Armenian News By MassisPostDaily News From Armenia And The Diaspora2017-09-26T21:37:08Zhttp://massispost.com/feed/atom/WordPressMassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289812017-09-26T21:37:08Z2017-09-26T21:37:08ZYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — The Armenian government plans to introduce first-ever road tolls in Armenia in a bid to complete an expensive project…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — The Armenian government plans to introduce first-ever road tolls in Armenia in a bid to complete an expensive project to upgrade the country’s key highways, Transport and Communications Minister Vahan Martirosian revealed on Tuesday.

The project, supposedly launched in 2009, has fallen behind schedule, with less than 10 percent of the national highways stretching over 550 kilometers to Georgia and Iran refurbished and expanded so far. Work on two other road sections is due to be finished in the next few years. These roadworks are mostly financed from loans extended to the government by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Martirosian insisted that the government is committed to rebuilding the remaining highways mainly passing through the mountainous Vayots Dzor and Syunik provinces in the country’s southeast. He estimated that that will require as much as $1.5 billion in funding, a figure equivalent to roughly half of the Armenian state budget.

Martirosian said the government hopes to attract the investments from private firms, rather than seek more loans from the ADB or other international lenders. “The decision has already been made and we are working in that direction,” he told a news conference.

This means, the minister went on, that the new highways stretching over 350 kilometers from the southern town of Ararat to the Iranian border would be toll roads operated by private firms. He said they would run parallel to the existing toll-free roads.

Martirosian added that the government is already holding preliminary talks with potential private investors but did not name them. As part of the same effort, it plans to enact a new law on public-private partnerships, he said.

The new figures cited by Martirosian raise the total cost of the North-South transport project to more than $2 billion.Armenian officials estimated it at less than $1 billion when they negotiated the first loan agreement with the ADB in 2009. The Manila-based development bank has disbursed $330 million to date.

The main official rationale for the highway upgrades is to facilitate the landlocked country’s access to the Georgian and Iranian ports. It is also meant to enable Iran to use Armenian and Georgian territory for large-scale freight shipments to and from Europe.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289772017-09-26T19:19:52Z2017-09-26T19:19:52ZYEREVAN — Photos of everyday events and shared common memories, captured on both sides of a closed border by young Armenian and…

]]>YEREVAN — Photos of everyday events and shared common memories, captured on both sides of a closed border by young Armenian and Turkish photographers, are available in a powerful photo book called “#BridgingStories.” The book was launched on September 26 in Yerevan, bringing together the mentors and several of the young photographers whose work is included in the volume. It is the capstone of a U.S. Embassy-sponsored project that included a photojournalism camp and exhibit last summer with the same name, #BridgingStories, aimed at bringing young Armenian and Turkish photographers together to develop their photojournalism skills.

Twenty-four young Armenian and Turkish journalists gathered in Dilijan in August 2016 for intensive training led by international and local experts, including Armenian photojournalist Anush Babajanyan, Turkish photojournalist Serra Akcan, and American National Geographic photographer John Stanmeyer. Participants then returned to their homes and spent months photographing their communities, working closely with their mentors. Many of the photos were displayed in an exhibit last January at the NPAK/ACCEA gallery in Yerevan.

“The photos they took, some of which are compiled here, are powerful visual stories. They show life as it is – the good and the bad, the joyful and sorrowful, the poignant and the day-to-day,” U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills, Jr., writes in the opening pages of the newly released book. “The young photographers share stories of their families, their communities, and their own lives. Through their visual stories we see the similarities in the lives lived on both sides of the Armenian-Turkish border.”

“But, of course, an exhibition can only reach so many eyes. Expanding on the project, and again with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan, this #BridgingStories book was created, a permanent record of the development of a relationship between neighbors who are now friends,” mentor John Stanmeyer writes in the book’s introduction.

“Thank you to all the young photographers involved,” said U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Rafik Mansour, who spoke at the book launch. “It is through your art, through your eyes, that we can see bridges of understanding being built. And with this book, your work will continue to reach new audiences and spark new discussions.”

Copies of the book will be made available to various libraries around Armenia. Look for them soon in the U.S. Embassy’s five American Corners in Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Charentsavan, and Kapan.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289732017-09-25T22:04:29Z2017-09-25T22:04:29ZBAKU (Eurasianet) — Two Armenian members of parliament have made a rare visit to Azerbaijan, where they spoke out against their hosts’…

]]>BAKU (Eurasianet) — Two Armenian members of parliament have made a rare visit to Azerbaijan, where they spoke out against their hosts’ “xenophobic propaganda” and incurred the wrath of nationalist Azerbaijanis.

The delegation was in Baku last week to take part in a session of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, a European Union body devoted to parliamentary cooperation with its partners in the former Soviet Union.

“We came here because Euronest is an essential platform for us,” said Armen Ashotyan, the head of the two-member delegation. “Armenia is about to sign a new agreement with the European Union. The other reason we came here is that such an event could have well been used for anti-Armenia rhetoric and propaganda in the presence of European MPs.”

In a speech to the assembly on September 22, Ashotyan also spoke about “Armenophobia and xenophobia” in Azerbaijan’s school system, and gave a book titled “‘Azerbaijan: Childhood in Hate’ to the host country’s deputy education minister, Armenian media reported. It’s not known what the Azerbaijani official’s reaction was.

The other delegate, Mane Tandilyan, said she toured Baku with the aim of learning about Armenian sites there.

“Tomorrow we’re going to take a walk to different places in Baku to check the condition of the existing Armenian heritage,” she said on September 22. She didn’t report back on her findings, except that she couldn’t get into Baku’s long-closed central Armenian church, but said she would soon brief Armenians.

An Armenian delegation also visited Baku the last time Euronest took place there, in 2012, when “heated discussions” took place with their Azerbaijani counterparts over the territory of Nagorno Karabakh.

Azerbaijan decided to boycott the Euronest event held in Yerevan in 2015, accusing Armenia of “aggressive criminal actions” against it.

]]>NEW YORK (RFE/RL) — Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s presidents will likely meet soon, international mediators indicated after holding fresh talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the foreign ministers of the two countries over the weekend.

The U.S., Russian and French diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group met separately and then jointly with Foreign Ministers Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York.

“The main aim of the consultations was to discuss the current situation in the conflict zone, to explore ways to reinvigorate the negotiation process, and to prepare for the upcoming summit between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan,” they said in joint statement.

They said they hope that the summit will help the conflicting parties eventually “find compromise solutions to the remaining key settlement issues.” “The Ministers expressed their commitment to work with the Co-Chairs to prepare for a successful summit in the near future,” added the statement.

The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministries confirmed that the New York talks focused on preparations for the planned meeting of Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev. But like the co-chairs, they gave no possible dates for it. It was announced instead that the mediating troika will again tour the conflict zone early next month.

Also, Mammadyarov was reported by Azerbaijani news agencies to voice support for “some interesting proposals put forward by the co-chairs for continuing substantive negotiations” on a Karabakh settlement. He did not elaborate.

Aliyev and Sarkisian traded fresh recriminations when they addressed the UN General Assembly last week. In particular, Aliyev described his Armenian counterpart as a “war criminal.” He also blasted the international community for not helping Azerbaijan regain control over Karabakh.

Sarkisian announced in July a “preliminary agreement” on the conduct of his face-to-face talks with Aliyev this fall. “My expectations from the meeting are not big,” he said.

The two presidents most recently met in May and June 2016 shortly after four-day deadly hostilities around Karabakh that nearly denigrated into an all-out war. They agreed to allow the OSCE to deploy more field observers in the conflict zone and investigate truce violations occurring there. They also hinted at progress towards a peaceful settlement.

The peace process again stalled in the following months, however. The Azerbaijani government has since been reluctant to implement the agreed safeguards against renewed fighting, saying that they would cement the status quo.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289572017-09-25T06:21:15Z2017-09-25T06:21:15ZFRESNO — “Armenians and Turks: Challenges and New Paths Forward towards Reconciliation” will be the topic of a panel discussion at 7:30…

]]>FRESNO — “Armenians and Turks: Challenges and New Paths Forward towards Reconciliation” will be the topic of a panel discussion at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, October 3, 2017, in the University Business Center, Alice Peters Auditorium, Room 191 on the Fresno State campus. The event is part of the Fall Lecture Series of the Armenian Studies Program.

The panel discussion will be moderated by Dr. Jay Pope, Associate Professor of Psychology at Fresno Pacific University. For centuries, a coherent literature on forgiveness was virtually non-existent and was generally limited to individual perspectives of theologians and pastors writing about forgiveness as a doctrinal subject within religious faith. In the last 30 years, however, forgiveness has emerged as a powerful psychological construct, addressed by many branches of the social sciences both theoretically and practically. In his presentation, Dr. Jay Pope briefly traces the history of forgiveness and its religious and psychological implications, especially as it pertains to the Armenian experience with Turkey.

Joining Dr. Pope on the panel will be Kathleen Chavoor-Bergen, M.A. (School therapist in the Fresno Unified School District) who will speak on “Behavioral and Unconscious Experience and Expressions of Multigenerational Collective Trauma”; Noelle (Daoudian) Nightingale, M.A. (Mediator and President of Nightingale Dispute Consultants) on “Bringing about Recognition and Reconciliation”; Ali Kalkandelen, M.A., one of the initiators of the Armenian Turkish Peace Initiative (ATPI); and Zekai Tanyar, B. Sci., one of the founders of the Alliance (later Association) of Protestant Churches in Turkey in 1989 and current ATPI coordinator for Turkey.

The panel discussion is free and open to the public. Free parking is available in Lots P6 and P5 near the University Business Center, Fresno State. Please use permit code 273808 at a campus kiosk to receive a free parking permit.

For more information about the lecture please contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669, visit our website at www.fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies or follow us on Facebook @ArmenianStudiesFresnoState or on Twitter @armstudiesfs.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289522017-09-25T06:18:26Z2017-09-25T06:18:26ZYEREVAN — On Saturday, two days after the celebration of the 26th anniversary of Armenia’s independence, The Promise director Terry George and…

]]>YEREVAN — On Saturday, two days after the celebration of the 26th anniversary of Armenia’s independence, The Promise director Terry George and co-producer Eric Esrailian paid a symbolic and emotional visit to Tsitsernakaberd, the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. Esrailian and George, who arrived in Yerevan on Thursday afternoon to attend a series of events devoted to The Promise, were accompanied by Armenia’s Minister of Culture Armen Amiryan and AGBU Central Board members.

The visit to Tsitsernakaberd has been a true highlight for George. Never intimidated to speak up against genocides, he depicted their horrors in his historical dramas Hotel Rwanda and The Promise. “This visit sums up everything that I worked for over the last four years and brings into focus what really cinema and the power of cinema can be about, to try to commemorate the loss of lives and the horrible crime that was committed. So, this is the most emotional moment of the whole production of The Promise itself, the most important moment of the project,” said George.

George and Esrailian paid tribute to the Armenian genocide victims with a moment of silence as they laid flowers at the eternal flame. They also planted a tree in the Memory Alley to honor the memory of the late Kirk Kerkorian, the legendary man who tirelessly worked to bring The Promise to big screens, and toured in the genocide museum.

“This tree symbolizes the ever-growing reach of the Armenian story. Kirk Kerkorian planted the seed, and Terry, Mike Medavoy, and I have been honored to work with our incredible cast and crew to share this story with the world. We must never let the world forget our past, and we must move forward together support others in need. Under Kirk Kerkorian’s direction, we followed through on his wishes for the film. Today, we honor his life and the lives of those lost over a hundred years ago,” said Esrailian, co-producer of The Promise.

On Friday, they spoke to the local journalists and attended “We Promise” musical tribute—inspired by The Promise and based on its original score—which premiered at the Opera Theater in Yerevan. Armenia’s President Serzh Sarkisian, Prime Minister Karen Karapetian, His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, AGBU President Berge Setrakian along with foreign ambassadors and dignitaries attended the spectacular.

“Armenians across the globe watched their significant past unfold on screen for the first time in a wide-release Hollywood production. It is difficult to express our global gratitude for the efforts of the late Kirk Kerkorian and to those who worked as allies in telling this story, specifically our guests Terry, Eric and their co-producers. They confronted countless challenges over the years and succeeded despite all odds. We are honored to dedicate a few events, including the musical tribute at the Yerevan Opera Theater to the film,” said Berge Setrakian.

The Promise is a major historical drama depicting the Armenian Genocide through a touching love story. After its mainstream release in the United States and Canada in April, The Promise continues to open in theaters across the world. Produced by Kerkorian’s Survival Pictures and directed by renowned, Academy Award-winning director Terry George, The Promise features an all-star international cast, including Oscar Isaac, Christian Bale, Charlotte Le Bon, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Angela Sarafyan. The movie’s original score was created by Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared with the title song “The Promise” written and performed by the late Chris Cornell. All proceeds from the film have been designated to various charities with an emphasis on human rights causes.

For more information about The Promise, please visit http://www.survivalpictures.org/the-promise/

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289612017-09-25T06:16:57Z2017-09-25T06:16:57ZGLENDALE — An Informative presentation of the AGBU Nubar Library by its current director Boris Adjemian will be presented on Friday, October…

]]>GLENDALE — An Informative presentation of the AGBU Nubar Library by its current director Boris Adjemian will be presented on Friday, October 13, 2017, at 7:30 pm, at Glendale’s Downtown Central Library Auditorium, 222 East Harvard Street.

The AGBU Nubar Library is one of the most important Armenian research and resource centres in the Armenian Diaspora. It houses more than 43,000 printed works, 500,000 archival documents, 1,500 periodicals and 10,000 photos as well as hundreds of manuscripts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is also home to a large collection of unpublished materials and gathers historical documents of great value in understanding contemporary Armenian history. The library’s collection primarily concerns the nineteenth and twentieth century and is a vital resource in the preservation of Armenian cultural heritage. The library is being used by academics, students, professional researchers and amateurs from all around the world.

In December 2016, the AGBU Nubar Library in Paris announced the launch of its website, offering a wealth of information, photos and documents about Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and the Armenian diaspora on the internet: https://agbu.org/education/library-research-center/

Boris Adjemian is a historian and the director of AGBU Nubar Library (Paris). He is also the editor-in-chief of the bilingual academic journal Études arméniennes contemporaines.

Admission is free. Library visitors receive 3 hours free parking across the street at The Market Place parking structure with validation at the service desk.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289652017-09-25T06:16:03Z2017-09-25T06:16:03ZBURBANK — The Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, under the auspices of the Primate, His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan…

]]>BURBANK — The Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, under the auspices of the Primate, His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, is pleased to report that, on April 27, 2017, the Fresno County Department of Public Works and Planning Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the development of significant improvements to the Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian Camp facilities in Dunlap, California. The first phase of improvements includes a Chapel and Retreat Center which includes an Armenian-style dome over the altar; a 2,186-square foot multi-purpose assembly area; a clergy office/vestment storage area; a Camp Office with ancillary improvements (e.g. restrooms and storage space); and almost 1000 square feet of exterior deck. The Chapel altar will be dedicated in memory of the late Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Archbishop Torkom Manoogian.

In planning since 2013, Archbishop Derderian, in collaboration with the Camp Chapel Committee consisting of community members, clergy, and representatives of the Western Diocese Camp Board with input from the Camp Program Committee, have been working with Robert Simonian of Sobin-Harte Architects, Inc. The Chapel committee has focused on designing the Chapel and attached Retreat Center to best serve the needs of the Diocese’s Hye Camp summer program and year-round Diocesan guests. The multi-purpose room of the Chapel complex will allow campers to assemble for Badarak (Divine Liturgy) and will offer opportunities to teach classes with state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment for more interactive learning. As part of the planning process, the Committee updated the camp’s 30-year-old siteplan, originally designed by architect Ara Movesian, paving the way for many long-term upgrade projects.

Additional projects on the horizon are improvements to the clergy residence (“Srpazan’s Cabin”) and two existing staff houses; the replacement of two duplexes with a new multi-room staff building, and the addition of two new camper cabins. With the addition of two new camper cabins, the Hye Camp program can expand capacity by over 100 campers annually.

His Beatitude the late Patriarch Manoogian initiated the first camp program in 1964, when 32 participants participated. Today, the Western Diocese Hye Camp program serves nearly 650 participants annually, from throughout the western United States, during summer for four weeks. It is one of the strongest youth programs offered by the Diocese.

The year 2017 marks the 30th anniversary of the purchase of the Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian Camp. The Diocese is reaching out to the entire Armenian community throughout the Western United States to help make the renovation and upgrade plans a reality. The estimated cost of the entire 5-year renovation plan is $2.5 million; Phase 1, which includes the Chapel/Retreat Center and 2 cabins, are estimated to cost approximately $1.3 million. Phase 1 is scheduled to break ground in spring 2018.

To kick off the start of this exciting phase of the future of the camp facility, the Western Diocese, under the auspices of His Eminence, is announcing the E.P.I.C. (Exciting Possibilities Improving
Camp) fundraising campaign, and the E.P.I.C. event on September 30, 2017. This will be a three-location event, held simultaneously at St. Peter Armenian Apostolic Church of Van Nuys, St. Paul Armenian Apostolic Church of Fresno, and St. John Armenian Apostolic Church of San Francisco. The event locations will have food, drinks, entertainment, auction of camp items, and special guests.

The hundreds of camp alumnae along with the public at large are invited to come and support this “EPIC” event. More information on how to register for the event and to donate to this important project can be found at https://www.hyecamp.com/epic by sending an email to hyecamp.epic@gmail.com or by calling (626) 888-EPIC.

Contact information regarding this press release:
Email hyecamp.epic@gmail.com or call (626) 888-EPIC. A committee member will respond to
your inquiries.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289472017-09-25T06:13:57Z2017-09-25T06:13:57ZGLENDALE — Maria Jacobsen (1882-1960) was a Danish missionary and a key witness of the Armenian Genocide. Jacobsen wrote the “Diaries of…

]]>GLENDALE — Maria Jacobsen (1882-1960) was a Danish missionary and a key witness of the Armenian Genocide. Jacobsen wrote the “Diaries of a Danish Missionary: Harpoot. 1907 – 1919”, which is a “documentary of the utmost significance” for research on the Armenian Genocide. For her humanitarian efforts, Jacobsen is known as Mayrik (Armenian Mother) or “Mama” for having saved many Armenians during the Armenian Genocide.

The Maria Jacobsen Scholarship Fund Committee announces the establishment of an annual essay contest. The theme is: In the more than 100 years that have passed since the first Genocide of the 20th century – – The Armenian Genocide of bigotry, prejudice, intolerance, persecution, deportations, and heinous plans for the annihilation of a nation- what you believe your generation can do to make “Never Again” a reality?

The essay contest guidelines are:
1. The Essay Contest is open to all Armenian high school students who attend Armenian or public schools in Southern California,
2. One entry per student,
3. All entries must be typed and double spaced in Times Roman, 12 font (in Armenian or in English),
4. Entries may not exceed 600 words,
5. Entries must include name, address, phone number, e-mail address of school and grade,
6. Essays must be electronically submitted to mashdots@aol.com by March 17, 2018,
7. Ideas not the student’s and/or quotes must be referenced,
8. Judging will be based on the following criteria: originality, creativity, passion, message conveyed, historical detail, and proper use of language.

Prizes:
First Place cash prize: $500.00,
Second Place cash Prize: $250.00,
Third Place cash prize: $125.00

All winners will be recognized at a special ceremony dedicated to the Armenian Genocide in April, 2018 in Greater Los Angeles.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289432017-09-22T21:34:23Z2017-09-22T21:34:23ZBAKU — Members of the US House of Representatives – David Valadao, Frank Pallone and Tulsi Gabbard have been included in the…

]]>BAKU — Members of the US House of Representatives – David Valadao, Frank Pallone and Tulsi Gabbard have been included in the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Black list of people who are declared persona non grata, for visiting Nagorno Karabakh republic.

According to Azerbaijani Ministry, the US congressmen have breach the norms and principles of international law, the Helsinki Final Act, at the same time, justify and support “the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, the bloody ethnic cleansing of more than one million peaceful Azerbaijanis in the occupied territories and aggressive separatism”.

Representatives Representatives Frank Pallone and Tulsi Gabbard met with government officials and lawmakers in Stepanakert on September 20th after touring the nearby historical town of Shushi.

Pallone and Gabbard were part of a six-member U.S. congressional delegation that held talks with Armenian lawmakers and senior government officials in Yerevan on Tuesday. Another member of the delegation, David Valadao, travelled to Karabakh on Monday September 18, to inspect U.S.-funded demining activities there.

0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289362017-09-22T06:22:01Z2017-09-22T06:22:01ZNEW YORK — Violence broke out at another event involving Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, four months after a widely publicized…

]]>NEW YORK — Violence broke out at another event involving Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, four months after a widely publicized brawl in Washington that led to the indictment of 15 Turkish security personnel.

Erdogan supporters punched and kicked three protesters who interrupted his speech at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square.

Erdogan was addressing several hundred people at an event organized by a business group, the Turkish-American National Steering Committee, when one man stood and began shouting, “Terrorist! Terrorist!”

Voice of America TV footage shows audience members pummeling him as U.S. security officers tried to hustle him to safety. Soon after he was gone, a second man followed suit and also was repeatedly punched and hit over the head with Turkish flags as he was led outside by U.S. security.

Erdogan tried to calm the crowd, saying: “Let’s not sacrifice the whole meeting for a couple of terrorists.”

Then a third protester started heckling the president from a different part of the crowd. Although that incident occurred off-camera, a VOA reporter who was nearby said he, too, was beaten.

Robert Renas Amos, an American who previously volunteered with a Kurdish group in Syria to fight against ISIS militants, and was also involved in the brawl earlier this year, told Fox News he and four others went to the event to protest the death of American citizen Michael Israel, an American who was killed last year in Syria while fighting for the YPG.

Amos said he was “dog-piled” by security guards dressed all in black, and was repeatedly kicked, and had his head slammed multiple times as he was taken out of the event. He also said the chaos only intensified as he was being pulled through the room, as random attendees at the event hit and kicked him.

Amos said hotel security attempted to “protect” protestors from the crowd. “I felt someone grab me and say ‘I got you’ just follow me, but then others started hitting,” he claimed.

NYPD officials could not verify if any of the protestors had been attacked by Turkish or private security personnel hired to work the event. Nor was the precise role of the various protective and law enforcement details at the event immediately determined.

This was the second time this year that protesters in America have been assaulted by Erdogan supporters.

In past months, 21 people — many of whom were members of the Turkish ambassador’s security detail — were indicted for allegedly attacking protesters outside the Turkish embassy in Washington in May. All were charged with conspiracy to commit a crime of violence, a felony punishable by a maximum of 15 years in prison. Several face additional charges of assault with a deadly weapon. The White House has since strongly denied Erdogan’s account of the phone conversation with Trump.

On Thursday, during his appearance with Erdogan, Trump was asked about the conversation with the Turkish leader regarding the violence against peaceful protesters. Trump did not respond.

]]>TBILISI — Levon Aronian bounced back from a deficit to beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 5-4. Ding Liren clinched the penultimate blitz game against Wesley So and drew the next for a 3.5-2.5 triumph.

Levon Aronian bounced back from a deficit to beat frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 5-4 to reach the World Cup final against Ding Liren of China in Tbilisi, Georgia on Thursday.

By virtue of reaching the final, they qualified for the eight-man Candidates tournament aimed at finding the challenger to Magnus Carlsen in the next World championship title match.

On the day of tie-break games, Aronian lost the first rapid game but hit back immediately to level the scores. Thereafter the next four blitz games ended in draws. Finally, in the Armageddon game, Aronian won with white pieces in 78 moves. In the Armageddon game, a player with black pieces gets four minutes to white’s five and needs only a draw to be adjudged the winner. In this case, facing a must-win situation, Aronian came out stronger.

Earlier, Ding Liren clinched the penultimate blitz game against Wesley So and drew the next for a 3.5-2.5 triumph.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289282017-09-21T20:10:16Z2017-09-21T20:10:16ZWASHINGTON, DC (CNN) — The White House has denied that President Donald Trump called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to apologize for…

]]>WASHINGTON, DC (CNN) — The White House has denied that President Donald Trump called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to apologize for the violent incident that unfolded outside of the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington in mid-May when Erdogan’s bodyguards and supporters attacked peaceful protesters.

Erdogan told PBS NewsHour Monday that Trump told him he was sorry for what happened when the two men spoke on September 9.

“Actually, President Trump called me about a week ago about this issue,” Erdogan told PBS’ Judy Woodruff. “He said that he was sorry, and he told me that he was going to follow up on this issue when we come to the United States within the framework of an official visit. The protesters were insulting us, and they were screaming and shouting. The police failed to intervene properly.”

However, the White House disputed Erdogan’s claim Wednesday, saying his description of the conversation was “wrong.”

Erdogan met with Trump at the White House just hours before the brawl occurred in May, and footage that was later released showed Erdogan looking on from the driveway of the residence as his security officials beat up protesters.

In August, a grand jury in Washington returned indictments against 15 Turkish security officials and four other individuals on charges of attacking protesters. According to the indictment, the Turkish security officials “used threats and physical violence — intensely kicking at protesters — to dispel the anti-Erdogan protesters, and blatantly ignore American law enforcement commands to cease the violence.”

The Turkish security officials left the country before they were charged.

]]>WASHINGTON, DC (RFE/RL) — U.S. President Donald Trump praised Armenia for participating in NATO-led peacekeeping operations and military exercises on Thursday when he congratulated the country on the 26th anniversary of its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

In a congratulatory letter to President Serzh Sarkisian, Trump also expressed readiness to “continue our assistance” to Armenia’s ongoing transition to a parliamentary system of government. He said his administration is also seeking to expand U.S.-Armenian economic ties.

“We also greatly appreciate Armenia’s participation in international peacekeeping operations and NATO-led and other multinational exercises,” read the letter publicized by Sarkisian’s press office.

Trump singled out Armenian participation in U.S.-led drills held in neighboring Georgia in August. They involved about 2,800 troops from the United States, Georgia and six other nations. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited and addressed them during an official trip to Georgia.

“We thank you for your dedication to regional stability and international peacekeeping operations,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement on Armenia’s independence holiday.“We greatly appreciate these endeavors toward building a more peaceful world.”

Despite its military alliance with Russia, Armenia has deepened defense cooperation with the U.S. and other NATO member states since the early 2000s. It currently contributes more than 100 troops to NATO-led missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

“Armenia does a good job of balancing its relationships with all its neighbors,” the U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, Richard Mills, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) late last month.

Trump sent his congratulatory message two days after greeting Sarkisian at a reception which he hosted in New York for world leaders that attended the latest session of the UN General Assembly. It was the first face-to-face contact between the two men.

Sarkisian praised Armenia’s “strong partnership” with the U.S. when he congratulated Trump on America’s Independence Day in July. He expressed hope that the two countries will “enrich the agenda of Armenian-American relations with new mutually beneficial initiatives and projects.”

Meeting with a group of visiting U.S. lawmakers in Yerevan on Thursday, the Armenian leader again thanked the U.S. for its economic assistance provided to his country since the early 1990s and praised Washington’s role in international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289172017-09-21T20:03:31Z2017-09-21T20:03:31ZWATERTOWN, MA — The Armenian Museum of America has announced a new special exhibition titled Scars of Silence that will open this…

]]>WATERTOWN, MA — The Armenian Museum of America has announced a new special exhibition titled Scars of Silence that will open this fall in the Adele and Haig Der Manuelian galleries on the 3rd floor of the Museum.

The exhibition, curated by Jennifer Liston Munson, includes excerpts from a film by Nubar and Abby Alexanian and photographs by Nubar Alexanian. Scars of Silence chronicles Armenian-American father and daughter as they embark on a journey to their ancestral homeland as a powerful act of reparative resistance.

The work reveals the legacy of the Armenian Genocide (1915–1923), bringing to the surface the profound consequences of Turkish denial—psychological and political—that have contributed to the subconscious suppression of loss for three generations and offers a timely and provocative personal account of what it means to be Armenian today.

The exhibition runs from September 28, 2017 to January 27, 2018 at 65 Main Street, Watertown, MA 02472
www.armenianmuseum.org

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288882017-09-20T23:18:02Z2017-09-20T23:18:02ZGLENDALE, CA – In celebration of the 26th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Armenia, the Nor Serount Cultural Association,…

]]>GLENDALE, CA – In celebration of the 26th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Armenia, the Nor Serount Cultural Association, Armenian Council of America and Gaidz Youth Organization held their annual Armenian Independence Day Festival at Verdugo Park.

The day-long event which featured live music by Mister X, Ara Shahbazian and Arno Mkrtchyan, dance performances from the Nor Serount Dance Troupe, delicious Armenian cuisine and booths featuring traditional Armenian crafts, rugs and artifacts, drew thousands of spectators of all ages from all over southern California.

“It was fantastic to see so many new faces at the festival this year,” said Mr. Harut Der-Tavitian “Every year we try to feature new and interesting booths displaying Armenian art and culture, many attendees including non-Armenian expressed to me how impressed they were with the event. We are looking forward to continuing this event so that more and more people can be educated about the Armenian culture in our growing and diverse multicultural community.”

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289042017-09-20T22:54:51Z2017-09-20T22:54:51ZNEW YORK (RFE/RL) — Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev again strongly criticized the international community on Wednesday for not helping Azerbaijan regain control…

]]>NEW YORK (RFE/RL) — Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev again strongly criticized the international community on Wednesday for not helping Azerbaijan regain control over Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian-held districts surrounding it.

In a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York, he also lashed out at Armenia, calling it a “corrupt” and “fascist” dictatorship and branding his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian as a “war criminal.”

“The Azerbaijani military carried out offensives against Armenian forces and liberated some of the occupied lands. Armenia should not forget about this, as Azerbaijan will not back down from military operations and will punish Armenia once again,” he added.

Aliyev repeated Baku’s regular claims that Armenia has been ignoring the Karabakh-related resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council in 1993-1994 and trying to maintain the status quo.

“The question is how can this corrupt, failed state ruled by a despotic, medieval regime afford to violate international law for so many years and ignore the resolutions of the UN Security Council and statements of the leading countries of the world?” he said. “And the answer is double standards.

“There is no international pressure on the aggressor, no international sanctions imposed on the Armenian dictatorship. This policy must be stopped.”

“The international community must stop Armenian fascism and terror,” he added.

Aliyev, who is facing growing international allegations of corruption and criticism for harshly suppressing dissent in Azerbaijan, did not name any world powers allegedly backing Yerevan. He reiterated instead that “the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be completely restored” as a result of a Karabakh settlement.

]]>1MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=289002017-09-20T22:14:51Z2017-09-20T22:14:51ZLOS ANGELES – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced that, along with seven of his California delegation colleagues, he wrote to major…

]]>LOS ANGELES – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced that, along with seven of his California delegation colleagues, he wrote to major publishers of social studies and history textbooks in California to urge them to include additional information and context about the Armenian Genocide. In 2014, Governor Brown signed AB 1915, requiring the Armenian Genocide to be incorporated into high school social studies and history curriculums. The letter asks textbook publishers to include additional information about the Armenian Genocide in forthcoming textbook editions, noting that it “help students learn about the Genocide both as an independent historical event, but also situated in the broader context of modern genocides, ethnic cleansing, and systemic human rights abuses.”

“The Armenian Genocide is a seminal event, and belongs in any course of study that considers human rights and genocide in history and in the modern context,” Rep. Schiff said. “California has taken the lead in encouraging the study of the Armenian Genocide in social studies and history classes, but putting that principle into practice will require textbook publishers to develop new texts that properly address the Genocide, and contextualize it with other 20th century genocides, as well as informing students about the unprecedented humanitarian response to the Genocide by the United States.”

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288962017-09-20T19:09:16Z2017-09-20T19:09:16ZSTEPANAKERT — Two more members of the U.S. House of Representatives visited Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday in a show of support for the…

]]>STEPANAKERT — Two more members of the U.S. House of Representatives visited Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday in a show of support for the Armenian-populated territory’s pursuit of international recognition.

Representatives Frank Pallone and Tulsi Gabbard met with government officials and lawmakers in Stepanakert after touring the nearby historical town of Shushi (Shusha).

Pallone, who is one of the co-chairs of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, reaffirmed his pro-Armenian views on the Karabakh conflict. “We believe that the people of Artsakh (Karabakh) must be able to exercise their right to self-determination and have mechanisms for ensuring their security,” the Artsakhpress news agency quoted him saying at the meeting.

“We are going to do our best within the Congress or within the confines of the [OSCE] Minsk Group … to see if we can play some role in creating some confidence-building measures and obviously pushing along a process that would lead to a peaceful settlement,” Pallone told reporters afterwards.

“But all of that necessitates that Karabakh continue to be Armenian and have its own self-determination. That, we will always insist on,” added the New Jersey Democrat who has repeatedly visited Karabakh in the past.

Both Pallone and Gabbard, a Democrat of Hawaii, praised the Karabakh authorities’ human rights and democracy records. Karabakh shares “important values” with the United States, Gabbard said.

Pallone and Gabbard were part of a six-member U.S. congressional delegation that held talks with Armenian lawmakers and senior government officials in Yerevan on Tuesday. Another member of the delegation, David Valadao, travelled to Karabakh on Monday to inspect U.S.-funded demining activities there.

Earlier this month, Valadao and other pro-Armenian lawmakers pushed through House of Representatives legislation mandating continued U.S. government funding for the humanitarian effort. The U.S. Congress has financed it since 2001 as part of direct economic assistance to Karabakh allocated over strong Azerbaijani objections.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288912017-09-20T19:02:00Z2017-09-20T19:02:00ZWe, The participants of the 6th Armenia-Diaspora Pan-Armenian Conference held under the title “Mutual Trust, Unity and Responsibility” in Yerevan on the…

The participants of the 6th Armenia-Diaspora Pan-Armenian Conference held under the title “Mutual Trust, Unity and Responsibility” in Yerevan on the threshold of the 100th anniversary of the declaration of the First Republic of Armenia, the 100th anniversary of the Battles of May 1918 and the 2,800th anniversary of the foundation of Erebouni-Yerevan,

Guided by the imperative of consolidation of the potential of all Armenians, ongoing dialogue and multi-layered engagement for the strengthening of the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora triumvirate;

Attaching importance to the joint enshrining of the goals of the nation, the development of plans for accomplishment of those goals, the provision of an opportunity for everyone to participate by different means and the awareness of all Armenians of their collective responsibility for the outcomes;

Taking into consideration the fact that the empowerment of the Republic of Armenia and the Artsakh Republic and the strengthening of their national security, further reinforcement of democratic institutions and systems of governance, dynamic economic development, increase of the living standard of the people and their spiritual, educational and cultural advancement, the preservation of the national identity and cultural development within the Armenian communities of the Diaspora are the guarantees of the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora triumvirate and the collective goals of the entire Armenian nation;

Considering consolidation around spiritual, moral and conventional values, strengthening of the Armenian family and stimulation of the birth rate as vital;

Reaffirming our pan-national responsibility for exercise, by the people of Artsakh, of their inviolable right to dispose their destiny freely, for the development of democracy in Artsakh and for its full-fledged integration into the international community;

Realizing the need for response to the current and potential challenges facing Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora through consolidation of the efforts of the State, the Armenian Church, pan-Armenian structures and community organizations and for the solution to pan-Armenian issues through combined efforts;

With the conviction that the dynamic growth of Armenian communities of the Diaspora in a changing world provides the opportunity to participate in the economic and cultural development of Armenia and Artsakh in a new way and help build a powerful homeland through that effort;

Stating that the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia enshrines the mission of the State to lead a policy on preservation of the Armenian identity and promote repatriation multilaterally, which will convey new quality and content to Armenia-Diaspora relations;

Certifying that the struggle of the Armenian nation for protection of its rights and restoration of justice is hinged on universal values and serves as one of the key benchmarks for our pan-national partnership;

Welcoming the process of formation of the Pan-Armenian Council as the ongoing development and enrichment of a unified agenda, as specification of the pan-national priorities, as consolidation of the intellectual potential of the nation and as the creation of a platform for high-level strategic dialogue;

Staying true to the principles stated in the Pan-Armenian Declaration on the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide;

We reaffirm our willingness to further strengthen the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora triumvirate in order to accomplish and resolve the following goals and issues together, with mutual responsibility and through consolidation of human, material and spiritual potential:

to empower the Republic of Armenia and the Artsakh Republic, strengthen the national security of the Republics and make them prosperous, consolidate the Armenian communities of the Diaspora, preserve the national identity and encourage repatriation;

to reach a peaceful and just resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and achieve international recognition of the exercise, by the people of Artsakh, of their right to self-determination;

to implement a more unified and coordinated policy for international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and elimination of the consequences of the Armenian Genocide planned and perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and various administrations of Turkey and maintain the firm position, on the frontline, in the struggle of the international community for the prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity, considering this as a moral duty – hinged on universal values and international law – of a nation of genocide survivors to the whole international community;

in the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, to further raise the level of awareness, attach importance to the preservation and transfer of historical memory and lead the struggle against denial and depreciation of the crime, including by legal force;

to strengthen the protection of Armenia, modernize the military-technical, technological and professional potential of the armed forces and enhance the military production complex as a driving force for economic development and technological advancement and as a key direction for implementation of the “Nation-Army” Concept Paper;

to lead a unified struggle against Armenophobia and anti-Armenian propaganda on different information platforms around the world and continue to implement practical programs and coordinated activities to neutralize the impact of such a policy;

to disseminate and strengthen the collective qualities of the national identity among young people, reinforce Armenian schools, bring up generations of Armenians with the spirit of “Armenianness”, introduce modern technologies in Armenian education and develop and implement new programs and projects for homeland recognition;

reinforce within Armenians love, solidarity, tolerance, trust and unity, ensure a favorable environment for Armenians to live in safety and to live a dignified life;

to combine efforts to resist and overcome the challenges facing Armenian communities and identify other potential challenges;

to show multilateral support to Armenians in the Middle East and particularly to the Armenians undergoing trials and tribulations in Syria, preserve Armenian institutions, historic and cultural monuments and cultural assets in that region;

to develop and implement programs for the enhancement of various spheres of activity in the settlements of Armenia and Artsakh (particularly borderline settlements);

to raise the level of awareness of the international community about Armenia and Artsakh, form a pan-Armenian agenda for that purpose and develop and implement a unified policy to achieve the goal through new and conventional institutions;

to exert combined efforts to preserve Armenian historical and cultural heritage in different countries, properly present Armenian culture in the world and help Armenian communities become self-organized;

to consolidate the potential of professionals of Armenia and the Diaspora to support the preservation, dissemination and regulation of the Western Armenian language and the teaching of Armenian and subjects devoted to Armenia and the Armenians in the Diaspora.

We, the participants of the conference, fully hope that all the structures and organizations of Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora, with broad engagement of young Armenians, properly celebrate the 100th anniversary of the First Republic of Armenia, the 100th anniversary of the Battles of May, as well as the 2,800th anniversary of the foundation of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

We guarantee that this DECLARATION will serve as a benchmark for all Armenians, the state authorities of the Republic of Armenia and the Artsakh Republic, the Armenian Church, as well as pan-Armenian and community structures and organizations to be consistent with the accomplishment of the pan-Armenian goals.

]]>1MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288842017-09-20T06:48:53Z2017-09-20T06:48:53ZNEW YORK — Armenia has never made the recognition of the Armenian Genocide a precondition for the normalization of the bilateral relations…

]]>NEW YORK — Armenia has never made the recognition of the Armenian Genocide a precondition for the normalization of the bilateral relations with Turkey, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian said in his speech in the 72nd UN General Assembly in New York.

“It was upon the initiative of Armenia that a normalization process was launched, resulting in the conclusion of the Zürich protocols in October 2009.

Up to this day, those documents have not been ratified, instead, they have landed in some dark drawers of the official Ankara. The Government of Turkey came up with preposterous preconditions for their ratification that run counter to the letter and spirit of the Protocols. I expressed the clear-cut views of the Armenian people on this issue three years ago, when I spoke from this eminent podium. Now the time has come for additional explanations”, the President said.

He emphasized that the leadership of Turkey are mistaken if they think that those documents can be held hostage forever and ratified only at the most opportune occasion from their very point of view.

“The Protocols were negotiated in the existing circumstances in order to find solutions to the actually existing issues. Armenia will declare those two Protocols null and void since they continuously lacked any positive progress towards their implementation. We will enter the spring of 2018 without those, as our experience has demonstrated, futile Protocols.

Armenia, nevertheless, continues to believe that any two neighboring states need to establish and enjoy normal relations in order to address all possible disagreements between them and find solutions to such a discord”, the President said.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288802017-09-19T19:58:14Z2017-09-19T19:58:14ZYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Six members of the U.S. House of Representatives discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and obstacles to closer U.S.-Armenian commercial ties…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Six members of the U.S. House of Representatives discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and obstacles to closer U.S.-Armenian commercial ties with Armenian government officials and parliamentarians during a visit to Yerevan on Tuesday.

The congressional delegation met with Prime Minister Karen Karapetian, parliament speaker Ara Babloyan and several other Armenian lawmakers representing different political parties. The delegation comprised three of the four co-chairs of the Congressional Caucasus on Armenian Issues: Frank Pallone, Jackie Speier and David Valadao.

The unresolved Karabakh dispute was high on the agenda of the meetings, with Karapetian and Babloayn praising U.S. mediation of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. Both sides agreed on the need for the conflict’s peaceful resolution.

Anna Eshoo, another member of the U.S. delegation, said she and her colleagues stressed the importance of a Karabakh settlement for Armenia’s economic development. “I think that the future of Armenia very much rests on a peaceful resolution,” she told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

Eshoo insisted that a compromise solution to the conflict is possible despite the current deadlock in the negotiation process. “I think that we need to be optimistic,” said the California Democrat.

Most of the visiting lawmakers have strongly supported direct U.S. economic assistance to Karabakh provided for almost two decades. Some of that aid has been spent on humanitarian demining operations conducted by the HALO Trust, a British charity. As recently as two weeks ago the House of Representatives approved $1.5 million in fresh funding for such activities.

Valadao, who represents another California constituency home to many Armenian Americans, travelled to Karabakh on Monday to inspect the HALO Trust’s mine-clearing activities. He said in Yerevan that he is not worried about being blacklisted by Azerbaijan for visiting the Armenian-populated territory without Baku’s permission.

“That’s their choice to make those types of decisions,” the Republican congressman told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “I can’t worry about that.”

The U.S. lawmakers also spoke with their Armenian colleagues about ways of boosting U.S. investments in Armenia. Eshoo said they stressed the importance of combatting government corruption in the country. “[Corruption] is anathema to American companies,” she said.

“They listened very carefully,” the congresswoman said of the Armenian parliamentarians. “I think it’s important that friends always tell friends the truth.”

The meeting with Karapetian also touched upon prospects for signing a U.S.-Armenian agreement on the avoidance of double taxation.

An Armenian deputy minister for transport and communications, Boris Demirkhanian, said such an agreement is especially important for Armenia’s burgeoning information technology (IT) sector when he spoke at the American delegation’s separate meeting with local tech executives. The visiting legislators were briefed on strong U.S. presence in the sector, according to a statement by the Armenian Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology.

The sector has expanded by an average of over 20 percent annually in the past decade. It is dominated by the Armenian branches of U.S. tech giants like as Synopsys, National Instruments, Mentor Graphics and VMware.

]]>YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Only democratic Turkey can recognize the Armenian Genocide, Garo Paylan – Istanbul-Armenian lawmaker of the Turkish parliament, said during his speech at the 6th Armenia-Diaspora Pan-Armenian Forum in Yerevan on September 19.

“We have a wound which is still incurable, and we know that this wound will be healed only in this country – in Turkey, Anatolia. Only democratic Turkey can recognize the Armenian Genocide, only democratic Turkey can open the Armenian-Turkish border. If Turkey doesn’t become democratic, we can wait for decades. Do we have a right to transfer this issue to our future generation? No, we have no right. We know well, and for four generations we are fighting for the injustice faced by our grandfathers and fathers to have a fair solution”, he said.

Garo Paylan said a great crime took place in the Ottoman Empire 102 years ago, and now that crime also continues since when a crime remains unpunished new ones are following it. “I believe we will achieve justice one day when the Armenian Genocide is recognized and I will continue fighting for that”, Garo Paylan said.

Paylan said he together with his party members has fought for decades for establishing democracy in Turkey. “In reality, the fight for democracy is very difficult. And over the past two years we saw that nationalism wins easier. Erdogan also saw this, and unfortunately, he moved on this path”, he said.

Paylan stated that the new Constitution of Turkey, which switched the country to presidential system, in fact serves for implementation of the goals of one person. “I have said in the Turkish parliament that a great mistake took place. I was opposed. 104 years ago the same happened in the Ottoman Empire. Talaat and Enver Pashas brought new Constitution after the revolution, and those people who were against it had two options – to stay silent or fight. The Armenian Genocide started and within a decade 4 nations – Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and Jews, were massacred. And now in the circumstances of Turkey’s new Constitution we can face the same catastrophe. Even today, unfortunately, we are facing it”, he said.

The lawmaker said the Republic of Turkey was found without facing the Armenian Genocide. According to Paylan, the state, which has not paid for its crimes 100 years later, will continue committing a crime.

]]>YEREVAN — On September 18, the 6th Armenia-Diaspora Pan-Armenian Conference kicked off at Karen Demirtchyan Sport and Concert Complex in Yerevan.

During the plenary session, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan delivered her opening remarks, His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians gave his blessings to the participants of the conference. President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan gave a speech, President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan expressed his greetings to the attendees, and His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia gave his blessings.

The 6th Armenia-Diaspora Pan-Armenian Conference is being held under the title “Mutual Trust, Unity and Responsibility” and with the participation of more than 1,800 representatives. The geography has expanded. There are more than 1,500 leaders and representatives of Armenian structures and organizations from 71 countries around the world, Armenian Members of Parliaments and ministers of different countries and Armenians elected as representatives of local authorities. Artsakh is represented by a 40-member delegation, and over 400 state, political and cultural figures, scholars and journalists are participating in the conference as representatives of the Republic of Armenia. There are large delegations from the Russian Federation (259), the USA (213), France (92), Lebanon (107), Syria (44), Iran (56), Argentina (35), Canada, Turkey and Georgia. Representatives of the communities of Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Mexico, Ethiopia, Sudan and Myanmar are participating in the conference for the first time.

More than 35 percent of the participants are women, and nearly 20 percent are young people.

During the conference, there will be 2 more plenary sessions, as well as 16 panel sessions devoted to 4 topics. The panel sessions will be devoted to the development of Armenia’s economy, regional challenges and the national security agenda, the foreign policy agenda, the elimination of the consequences of the Armenian Genocide and the preservation of the Armenian identity. The panel sessions will be moderated by the relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of International Economic Integration and Reforms and the Ministry of Diaspora.

Two roundtable discussions will be held during the conference. The first roundtable discussion will be devoted to the creation of a Pan-Armenian Council. The second roundtable discussion will be devoted to the preliminary plans for organizing and conducting the celebrations dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the declaration of the Republic of Armenia, the 100th anniversary of the Battles of May and the 2,800th anniversary of Erebouni-Yerevan.

RA Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan will deliver a speech entitled “The Main Provisions of the Economic Policy of the Government of the Republic of Armenia” during the plenary session of the second day of the conference.

Speaker of the RA National Assembly Ara Babloyan will give a speech during the final session, and the moderators of the panel sessions devoted to the four topics will present the results of the panel sessions.

The participants of the conference will adopt a declaration after the results of the sessions are summed up.

Pavilions have been set up at the Sport and Concert Complex where organizations like TUMO Center for Creative Technologies, Ayb Innovative School and Kvant School are showcasing their achievements. The achievements of Armenia’s winemaking, brandy and textile industries are showcased in separate pavilions. Megerian Carpets is presenting the past achievements of Armenian carpet-making and the current growth. Artsakh is presenting its achievements in culture and economy. There is also a pavilion devoted to the “Nation-Army” ideology.

The conference will also feature several cultural events. September 16th marked the opening of the Nairi Music Park-Museum, which showcases 10 bronze, iconic sculptures symbolizing Armenian song, music and national instruments and is located near Nairi Spa Resorts hotel complex in Hankavan. On September 18, a concert dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the career of Arax Mansourian will be held at the National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet after Alexander Spendiaryan. On September 19, an event dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the TV series “Of Armenian Descent” will be held at Karen Demirtchyan Sport and Concert Complex. On September 20, the participants of the conference will attend the gala concert of Nairi Pan-Armenian Music Festival, which is being held under the high patronage of the President of the Republic of Armenia and will pay homage to remarkable artists of Armenia and the Diaspora. From September 5 to 29, the Ministry of Diaspora, in association with the Armenian Collectors’ Club of the High Art Center for Fine Arts, is organizing the first exhibition called “Various” at Komitas Museum-Institute. The exhibition showcases 30 works of 24 notable Armenian artists starting from the mid-19th century and ending with the early 21st century, exclusively from private collections.

The sponsors of the conference are Grand Candy, Yerevan Brandy Factory, Vedi Alco, the Support to Javakhk Foundation, Noyan Juice Foundation, Jermuk Group, Voskevaz Wine Factory, Sipan Company and Avshar-Alco. The information sponsors are Armenian Public Television, Shant TV, Yerkir Media TV, Ararat TV and R TV, as well as the Public Radio of Armenia and “Armenpress” Armenian News Agency. A press center will be operating throughout the conference.

The first pan-national conference was held in September 1999 and was referred to as the Armenia-Diaspora Forum. The second was held in May 2002, and the 3rd pan-Armenian forum was held in September 2006. The first three forums were hosted by the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in 2011 and 2014, the conferences were held by the RA Ministry of Diaspora.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288662017-09-18T21:26:42Z2017-09-18T21:26:42ZBERLIN (Panarmenian.net) — Turkish authorities have attempted to prevent scholars based in Turkey from participating in a conference in Berlin titled “Past…

]]>BERLIN (Panarmenian.net) — Turkish authorities have attempted to prevent scholars based in Turkey from participating in a conference in Berlin titled “Past in the Present: European Approaches to the Armenian Genocide.”

The Workshop on Armenian-Turkish Scholarship (WATS) is a series of international academic workshops, founded at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan in 2000 as the “first forum where Turkish, Armenian, and other scholars could create a community of Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, and other scholars to conduct an informed debate” relating issues surrounding the fate of

Despite the efforts of Turkish nationalists who deny the established facts of history, the latest workshop, the tenth in the series, took place on 15-18 September at the European Academy Berlin, co-organized by the University of Michigan, USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies, and Lepsiushaus Potsdam, under the auspices of Dr. Martina Mu¨nch, Minister for Science, Research, and Culture of the State of Brandenburg.

The conference has come under sustained attack by Turkish ultra-nationalist political circles in Turkey and Germany. Long-time deniers of the Armenian Genocide in the international arena declared that the conference will “serve imperialism and the interests of Kurdistan” and framed the Kurdish issue as forming “the second Israel,” clearly an anti-Semitic slur.

“We consider that a democratic society requires a free exchange of ideas, and such pressure on academics in Turkey has already had a chilling effect on university scholars, who have in the last decades help to build up a high level of academic professionalism and achievement,” said the Workshop for Armenian-Turkish Scholarship and the Lepsiushaus Potsdam in a statement.

“We demand as well that the Turkish state desist from interfering in intellectual exchange and expression outside of Turkey. There is no substitution for independent research and the presentation of research findings in academic settings and in scholarly meetings. These exchanges are fundamental to academic freedom. Such interference infringes on the democratic order in Turkey and in hosting countries.”

]]>NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration has withdrawn a proposal to let Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security guards buy $1.2 million in U.S.-made weapons, a congressional official said Monday, following violence against protesters during Erdogan’s visit to Washington this spring.

Earlier this year, the administration told Congress it planned to allow New Hampshire gunmaker Sig Sauer to sell the weapons, which include hundreds of semi-automatic handguns and ammunition. The notification triggered a period in which Congress could review the deal before final approval is granted. The weapons would have gone to an intermediary in Turkey for use by Erdogan’s presidential security forces.

But U.S. lawmakers began expressing strong opposition to the sale after a violent caught-on-camera incident on May 16 outside the home of the Turkish ambassador to Washington as Erdogan was visiting. Nineteen people including 15 identified as Turkish security officials have been indicted by a U.S. grand jury for attacking peaceful protesters.

The incident was one of several during visits by top Turkish officials to the U.S. that have raised serious questions about the behavior of Turkish security forces on American soil.

In June, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., wrote Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging him to reject the deal and calling the conduct of the Turkish guards “unprofessional and brutal.” A Senate panel has also approved a measure that would block the sale.

The State Department, in informing Congress that it was formally withdrawing the planned sale, said it was at the request of Sig Sauer, which had requested the license from the U.S. government that’s needed to export weapons outside the U.S.

But the U.S. had already quietly put the sale on hold after the violence, and the Trump administration had informed the Turkish government that the sale wouldn’t be allowed to take place. Sig Sauer appeared to have pulled its request for a license from the U.S. government after hearing from the Turks that it no longer expected to purchase the weapons.

Rep. Dave Trott, R-Mich., hailed the decision to withdraw. He said going ahead with the deal “would have been nothing short of an endorsement” of the attack by the Turkish security guards. Pulling out, Trott said, amounts to finally pointing “a finger in Erdogan’s chest” and telling him that Turkey is not above the law.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288562017-09-16T19:51:19Z2017-09-16T19:51:19ZBy Hratch Tchilingirian EVN Report — In recent years a new discourse on “global Armenians” is increasingly becoming part of an effort of…

EVN Report — In recent years a new discourse on “global Armenians” is increasingly becoming part of an effort of constructing a post-Genocide Armenian identity in the Diaspora — and Armenia. These new identity shapers seem to advocate a transition from “survival mentality” to celebration of life and success. One definition was provided in a full-page letter published in The New York Times (28 October 2016), according to which a “global Armenian” is someone, who despite having “forcibly displaced and dispersed” ancestry, lives “across the world” and has made or is making “major contributions toward advancing their adoptive countries.”[1] Such “global Armenians” include scientists, doctors, engineers and inventors making contributions to societies in their countries; politicians, ministers and diplomats serving in different countries; movie stars, sportsmen, bankers and corporate executives; and, of course, celebrities who have millions of followers on social networks. In short, a “global Armenian” is someone who is professionally successful, has an impact in their field, and has public visibility or recognition.

One of the stated main goals of this prescriptive “global Armenianism” is “to transform the post-Soviet Armenian Republic into a vibrant, modern, secure, peaceful and progressive homeland for a global nation.” This is, indeed, a vision that many in Armenia and the Diaspora dream about. Of course, there are others who use the term “global Armenian” as a descriptive term or as synonym for dispersion.[2]

Yet, even as “global Armenians” seem to be thriving around the world, they don’t seem to be thriving in the Republic of Armenia. With rare exceptions, global Armenians seem to exist everywhere except in Armenia. Instead, Armenia is visible through its oligarchs — a small number of people who have political, economic, social and even cultural and religious power that survives through unquestioned loyalty, pubic obedience or oppression. President Serzh Sargsyan himself affirmed at the opening of the 6th Parliament, when he said: “indeed, today, the face of corruption [in Armenia] has changed,” underlining that it is “increasingly becoming more visible and untenable.”[3]

No, the vast majority of Armenians in Armenia and the Diaspora are not successful “global Armenians,” as defined by the evangelists of this “new” concept. Twenty-seven years after the Earthquake in northern Armenia, some 3,000 Armenians still live in temporary shelters. More worrying, one third of Armenia’s population is poor. There are 900,000 poor people in Armenia, according to the official figures provided by the State Statistical Services. World Bank defines poverty as “the inability to ensure an acceptable minimum of certain living conditions.” In fact, poverty increased by 2.3 percent between 2008 and 2015.” A government report explains that “the number of the poor in 2015 was around 900,000, of whom around 310,000 were very poor, and of the latter around 60,000 were extremely poor.[4] Meanwhile, in the Diaspora, there are thousands of Syrian Armenian refugees in Lebanon alone, facing myriad of needs and uncertainties.

Global Armenians, like the ocean-crisscrossing Armenian merchants of the 16th-18th centuries, might have preserved colonies or continue to keep communities spread across the world vibrant, even as they face the risk of assimilation spread over generations. However, preserving a nation is not the same as preserving a community. The homeland, Armenia, is the guarantor of the continuation of Armenians as a viable nation. Boghos Noubar, Calouste Gulbenkian, Alex Manoogian and Kirk Kerkorian, for example, are exceptions, but rich organizations and successful global Armenians are not collectively as rich to preserve a country. Successful individuals alone rarely create state institutions which are critical for societal prosperity. National institutions are created with the participation, engagement and involvement of the larger society. Working together on specific projects or towards common goals is different from “unity” or “united” activities, often repeated terms in Armenian discourse, but virtually never fulfilled.?

A nation becomes prosperous when all segments of society ? with their talents, capabilities, and wide range of resources ? are engaged in the process of building a preferred future. In the last century, we have been successful in building prosperous communities and preserving Armenian identity in the Diaspora. In the last 25 years, we have been engaged in the process of state-building. But what we have yet to complete is the process of nation-building – a process that is not the mere endeavor of individuals or a certain group of people, but a long-term collective project. We could view nation-building as the process of fulfilling or taking the efforts started in the Diaspora in the last one hundred years and since Armenia’s independence to their “logical conclusion.” In short, national-building is the construction of an Armenian national identity through the power of the Armenian state.

And this brings us to the main question: Could Armenians remain a global nation with a broken homeland? A homeland plagued with poverty, corruption and depopulation?
Even as we should celebrate and promote global Armenianism — a mark of regeneration and integration into global society — we need to be cautious about the temptation to brush aside the real problems facing the Armenian nation. Individually, Armenians have been very successful, they have become global citizens; but institutionally, our collective life bears the shackles of at least three factors:

(a) the past — we do a lot of retrospection, but very little prospection; (b) lack of a “national philosophy” — or a set of common values around which we could gather collectively; and (c) transformative leadership — we have many leaders, but seem to lack leadership. Let me elaborate these three issues.

a) The past: Change of perspective
First, I suggest that we need a major shift of perspective in our national discourse from the past to the future. The past, our glorious and not so glorious history, rather than the future seem to be determining what we ought to do in the present. In this sense, the wise remarks of the late Catholicos Karekin I of All Armenians are instructive: “The glorification of the past does not mean turning the past into a worship idol. If we continue to glorify the past to a point that we are filled and drunken by it …we would betray the past…. We are a ring on that chain [of history] which is the march of our life, spread over the centuries and striving towards the infinite future.”[5]

Seeing the present from the future does not mean looking into a crystal ball, but seeing the impact and consequences of our own actions and inactions today on the future, as well as determining where we wish to go in the coming years and decades. For instance, according to United Nations projections, in 2050 Armenia’s population will go down to 2.7 million and in 2100 down to about 1.8 million. While Russia and Georgia will also see decline in their population numbers, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran will see natural growth.[6] We know now what will happen to Armenia’s population in 30, 40, 50 years. Twenty years ago, we knew what impact the oligarchic system would have on Armenia’s population and the country’s economic development; and we can be sure what we could expect in 5-10 years if the current system of governance in Armenia continues. It is in this perspective that we need to look at the present from the future.

Secondly, we need to see Armenia and “global Armenianism” in the context of critical global developments. As Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of World Economic Forum, described, we live in a world where “societal polarization, income inequality and the inward orientation of countries are spilling over into real-world politics.”[6] Tectonic shifts in politics, economics and social upheavals are reshaping international relations. These changes have far reaching impact on how countries relate to each other and how risks are managed. In the last few years, the world has seen a continued slow economic growth. Coupled with high debt and demographic changes, this has resulted in financial crises and growing inequalities. Armenia, as well as Armenian philanthropists and philanthropic organizations, are not immune to the risks brought by these shifts.

Ideologically speaking, neoliberalism ? unregulated or slightly regulated capitalism ? is under attack in many quarters around the world as a “failed” ideology. Neoliberal policies of the past decades have created inequalities in societies. These inequalities challenge the very foundations of democracy, as we have seen in Armenia and the rest of the world: the wealthy and the powerful have greater influence on politicians, political representation, policy making and public discourse than the vast majority of citizens.

Meanwhile, technological advancements ? “the Fourth Industrial Revolution” ? are transforming societies, economies, and ways of doing business in ways never seen before. These have positive benefits for societies but also unforeseen consequences. Even as globalization has blurred personal and societal identities, many societies are addressing such anxieties by reasserting their personal and collective identity. International relations are becoming less cooperative and more inward-looking. Emotions, rather than rationality, are informing decision-making and political positioning.

We need to look at our present from the perspective of the future of technology. We know that in the short- and medium-term, for example, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, 3D printing and such unprecedented technologies would become “positive disruptions”. What are the benefits and uses of such technological “disruptions” for Armenia and Armenians? What are the risks for jobs, such as bank tellers, factory workers, traders and many other positions in the economy? As The Economist wrote, “it is not foolish to believe that 3D printing will power the factories of the future.”[8] In a post-hardware world, which is a topic of discussion these days among specialists, “the intelligence in the machines, rather than the machines themselves” would be the centre of attention.[9] These would certainly have uses for and impact on education, cultural production, trade and industry, defense of borders, so on.

The global risks and socio-political and technological trends that drive them are opportunities for responsive leadership. In the Armenian case, a leadership that would aim to uplift society towards long-term prosperity by engaging and collaborating across stakeholder groups, multiple interconnected systems, areas of expertise and talents.[10] For at least two decades now, we often speak about the lack of adequate leadership or lack of will in Armenia and Diaspora to improve “the state of the nation.” I believe, leadership alone is not enough. What we critically lack is a clear and common understanding of our national “values” ( արժէհամակարգ ). What are our most important national values?

b) National values
Throughout history, I suggest, three pillars have been significant and constant in the Armenian national ethos: church, school, and books (intellectual production) ? in modern terms: spiritual/moral values, education, and communications. These three pillars or institutions have defined, maintained and developed Armenian identity, especially in the Diaspora for at least the last three centuries.

In the globalised world of the 21st century and with Armenia’s independence, these proven identity pillars have been going through a period of transition and need renewal. While today the Church, more precisely the church leadership is failing to provide the spiritual, moral and ethical grounding for Armenian identity and national life, there is a need for a “new philosophy” that is based on millennia rich Armenian wisdom, moral, ethical, social and cultural values that have sustained our national life, especially in times of great crises and transition.

Today, the “elephant in the room” that the leadership neither in Armenia nor in the Diaspora are willing to see or acknowledge is the absence of a “national philosophy” ? a “philosophy” in the widest sense, particularly its moral and ethical dimensions. As the experience of the last 25 years shows, political and economic development, social cohesion, basic social justice, etc. would remain problematic without the adoption, promotion and exercise of sets of moral/ethic values ? values that are both universal and Armenian. In short, what are the value components of Armenian identity?

Armenians like to compare themselves often with Israel and the Jews or with other European nations. Let us look at a few examples of values that are upheld by various societies. In Denmark, for instance, Danish values and philosophy are woven around the idea of interdependence in society. Their sense of “safety and comfort” comes from the surety that material and psychological benefits of living in a society are tangible and accessible. In the “Danish way of thinking” having a secure life is more sensible than taking big risks. Sharing and community are complemented with the feeling of security and, thus, “the ideal of the welfare state.” In Singapore, values such as integrity, resilience and teamwork ? respecting and valuing “every individual and their contribution” are among the sets of values that provide guidance to individuals and organizations. As for the Jews, for example, in a 2012 Jewish Values Survey, when asked what informed their political beliefs and activity, 8-in-10 American Jews said “pursuing justice (84%) and caring for the widow and the orphan (80%); another 55% said “seeing every person as made in the image and likeness of God.”[11]

Interestingly, according to a recent PEW Research Centre survey of religious beliefs and national belonging in Central and Eastern Europe, Armenians scored the highest in a few categories among 18 countries. Armenians tend to be more philosophical than their neighboring countries: 79% in Armenia say they “often think about the meaning and purpose of life”; 57% “feel a deep connection with nature and Earth; 83% “believe in fate” and 72% in “miracles” ? the highest among the surveyed nations.[12]

What are or should be the basic values that would provide a common denominator for Armenians. This is the million-dollar question and one of the most complex and complicated problems. I believe, answers to such questions should be the result of a process of collective and public thinking, discernment and deliberations.

I do not have a ready answer, but I would start with two items ? the other two pillars I noted above. Throughout our history, education, the school, has been one of the most significant institutions in our national life. Education (“love of wisdom”) is part of our national fabric: from the 5th century Golden Age to medieval Armenian monastic “universities” (like Tatev and Haghpat) to the establishment of schools as priority for survival after the Genocide and so on. Education, as we know from experience, is not just schools, but a wider project that includes instilling values, character building, etc. In short, education is the process or vehicle by which the “national philosophy” is transmitted and made a living experience.

Finally, the third pillar is communications. From the ancient manuscripts to tens of thousands of newspapers, magazines, periodicals throughout the last few centuries, communications has been the glue that has bound the Armenian nation together ? intellectually, morally and experientially. In the absence of statehood, transmission of knowledge and values through print media has been part of our national fabric. Today we have wider opportunities with new technologies to reach millions of Armenians rather than only pockets of Armenians or local communities in the past.

In brief, any serious, transformative approach to our national life must include these proven pillars that would define the “new Armenia” in the 21st century. If we are to see progress in the coming years, a holistic approach to the development of Armenian national life is necessary ? for instance, it has become very clear that you cannot leave politics out of the equation of Armenia-Diaspora relations. While the economic and humanitarian aspects have been well studied areas for national development, there has been virtually no discussion about our “national philosophy” ? which would be driven by education and communications ? that connects our present “values” to the past and builds a preferred future.

c) Leadership: What needs to be done?
Over the last 25 years, external and objective problems have been imposed on Armenia and Armenians. However, internally, one of the most critical problems for the prosperity of the country has been the lack of responsive and responsible leadership – not lack of leaders, but leadership. Civil society, in both Armenia and the Diaspora, is not involved in the decision- and policy-making processes. Diaspora institutions ? churches, parties, community organizations ? rarely involve their wider membership or the wider community in their decision-making. Generally, independent professionals, experts, academics, businesspeople are ignored, unless it is for their financial contributions or limited input.

The first step towards building consensus around a “national values/philosophy” is to create a visionary and transcending leadership, which would articulate and address the most critical national issues. Such a step would bring together the knowledge, experience, talents and resources of a wide range of individuals, institutions and seemingly disconnected but equally well-meaning organizational and community leaders. The aim should be transcending personal or organizational agendas for the greater good of the homeland and Armenians around the world.

I believe, three categories or groups of people need to come together in order to overcome the failures of such attempts in the past. The three categories are, what I call, the thinkers, the doers and the makers.

-Thinkers ( մտաւորականներ ): intellectuals, academics, professionals, activists who are independent of loyalties to parochial agendas and have a track record of objective approach to national issues.-Doers ( վարչականներ): elected or appointed executives of organizations that have impact and influence in the Armenian world.-Makers ( նիւթական միջոցներու տէրեր ): visionary individuals who have or control considerable financial and organizational resources, who value collective efforts for long term benefits over gratifying short term successes.

Of course, there have been many attempts in the past and there are some pan-Armenian organizations that do a lot of good for Armenia and Armenians. However, virtually none has been able to articulate, implement and engage Armenians around a national “philosophy” for the 21st century. There are, indeed, lessons that could be learned from past successes and failures.

If we are to remain a global nation, we need to fix our homeland by drawing strength and lessons from the past, but must look at the present from the perspective of the future. In this process, we need to pay attention to our axiology and cultural values to complement and strengthen our efforts towards economic prosperity and, especially, political leadership.
The ultimate challenge is how do we make collective ideas, values and directions towards a preferred future come to life in our national life?

*This is a shorter version of a paper presented at ARPA Institute’s 25th Anniversary Conference, entitled “Armenia in the 21st Century: A Strategy for Long-Term Development,” held in Los Angeles, 15 July 2017.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288482017-09-16T05:02:20Z2017-09-16T05:02:20ZISTANBUL — The ninth International Hrant Dink Award was presented on Friday, September 15th during an award ceremony held at the Istanbul…

]]>ISTANBUL — The ninth International Hrant Dink Award was presented on Friday, September 15th during an award ceremony held at the Istanbul Lütfi Kirdar International Convention and Exhibition Centre. This year’s awards were granted to lawyer Eren Keskin, who raises human rights violations in the agenda of Turkey and the international community for many years by taking all the risk, and to artist Ai Weiwei, who draws attention to inequality and human rights violations throughout the world via his works of art.

The award ceremony was hosted by Ece Dizdar and the opening speech was made by the President of Hrant Dink Foundation, Rakel Dink. During her speech, Dink also referred to the ones who got in jail for expressing their thoughts, and concluded her words by saluting the human rights defenders who were detained and arrested on July 5th.

The award ceremony started with Aysenur Kolivar’s performance of ‘Da im Yusuf Orti’, a traditional Hamshentsi song. Brenna MacCrimmon, Muammer Ketencoglu, women from Sayat Nova Choir, Helesa and Dalepe Nena also took the stage during the night.

2017 awardees were announced at the end of the award ceremony.

Ai Weiwei was born in Beijing in 1957. After the Cultural Revolution, he returned to Beijing. He studied animation at Beijing Film Academy. In 1983 he went to New York to continue his arts education. He left school and made a living by painting portraits on the street. In 1993 he returned to China. In 2008, after the Szechuan Earthquake he visited the region and realized that the government did not provide factual information on the disaster. Creating a ‘Citizens’ Investigation’ website, he released information on faulty construction and sub-standard materials used in schools which caused the death of countless people, shared stories of students who had perished, and published articles about the earthquake during the investigation process. The site was closed by official decree. In 2010 a demolition order was issued for his newly built studio in Shanghai, where he wanted to teach architecture classes. He was ordered to be placed under house arrest; although the order was rescinded the next day, it was followed by attempts to prevent him from leaving the country. In 2011 he was apprehended. His studio was searched, materials confiscated, co-workers detained. He was held for three months. Since 2015 he uses his art installations on the flight from Middle East to Europe, to draw the world’s attention to refugees’ struggle to survive.

Eren Keskin was born in 1959 in Bursa, Turkey. She graduated from the Faculty of Law of Istanbul University. She joined the Human Rights Association of Turkey in 1989, where she worked for many years as a director. During the state of emergency of the early 1990s, she took part in committees formed to fight against the grievous human rights violations in the Kurdish-majority areas; during visits to the region she became the target of verbal as well as armed attacks. In the 1990s, nearly 200 court cases were brought against her. Because she had used the word ‘Kurdistan’ in an article published in the newspaper Özgür Gündem [Free Agenda] in 1995, she spent six months in jail. In 1997 she founded the Legal Assistance Office against Sexual Abuse and Rape in Custody. In 2002, in a case brought against her for a speech she gave on the subject of sexual torture by the state, she was sentenced to ten months in prison. That same year, the Disciplinary Board of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations issued a decision to bar her from working as a lawyer for one year. During this period, the mainstream media engaged in a smear campaign against her. Within the framework of a support campaign for the Özgür Gündem newspaper, she served for three years as its co-editor in chief. Today, there are still 143 open cases against her, one for a speech she made, and the others concerned with this duty which she performed voluntarily.

Ai Weiwei and Eren Keskin received their awards from the jury members Murathan Mungan and Ahmet Özmen representing Diyarbakir Bar Association.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288432017-09-16T04:53:40Z2017-09-16T04:53:40ZBAKU — The Azerbaijani Laundromat did not pay only politicians. It was also utilized to buy and disseminate favorable media coverage. According…

]]>BAKU — The Azerbaijani Laundromat did not pay only politicians. It was also utilized to buy and disseminate favorable media coverage.

According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), in 2014 Sager Eckart, a former CNN producer, received nearly €2 million ($2.6 million) in his United Arab Emirates bank account from Hilux Services LP. Eckart is listed as a press contact for public relations articles) that promote the Azerbaijani government’s views. One of these articles voices Azerbaijan’s denials in the Luca Volonte case.

The article quotes Elkhan Suleymanov, the same Azerbaijani parliamentarian who paid both Lintner and Volonte, as saying: “Unfortunately, those who attack Azerbaijan without reason for a slander and smear campaign are often regarded as heroic fighters, and it has once again become clear that this unscrupulous slander and smear campaign against my country was part of a vast international conspiracy, organized by economic powers abroad to destabilize Azerbaijan.”

Eckart previously ran into controversy when his TV production company, FBC, made documentaries for the BBC about Malaysia’s palm oil industry and the associated environmental and human rights issues while being paid by the Malaysian government.

And it’s not just media people who got paid. Mario Palmonella, an Italian architect, got money from the same Hilux company for architectural planning work in Azerbaijan. He also co-signed an open letter that started: “We are all Azerbaijanis!!! This is the call expressed in an open letter of the Italian community in Baku. In the letter the Italians living in Azerbaijan express their indignation at the smear campaign against Azerbaijan in the Western mass-media.”

Along with a group of Romanian architects, Palmonella carried out several projects in Azerbaijan, including the 7 Hills development financed in part by the International Bank of Azerbaijan.

The architect and family members were paid multiple times from the Azerbajani Laundromat, receiving more than €57,500 ($74,000) in their Romanian and Italian bank accounts. He told OCCRP that he is aware of Azerbaijan’s human rights problems, but that he felt that signing the letter was the cost of doing business in Azerbaijan.

]]>TEL AVIV — Israeli-Russian blogger Aleksandr Lapshin, who was imprisoned in Azerbaijan landed in Israel Thursday following his pardon and release earlier in the week. Lapshin was being accompanied by his mother, Bella Lapshina, on his September 14 flight to Tel Aviv.

Aliyev pardoned Lapshin on September 11 while the blogger was receiving medical assistance for what Aliyev’s adviser, Ali Hasanov, said was an attempted suicide in prison.

Lapshin was detained in Belarus in 2016 and extradited to Azerbaijan, where he was charged with for visiting Nagorno-Karabakh republic.

Lapshin was greeted at the airport by his family and Zionist Union Knesset member Ksenia Svetlova, who was involved in efforts to help the blogger and his family.

The officials, who were not named in the report, said that it was likely Lapshin was pardoned because Baku authorities became concerned after he tried to commit suicide, and were worried he could die in prison.

According to the report, Lapshin’s legal representative told the Azerbaijan State News Agency that his client had tried to kill himself during the prolonged negotiations for him to be extradited to Israel. In July, he asked to be moved to Israel, where his family lives, and turned down an offer to be imprisoned in Russia

]]>YEREVAN — Yerevan’s Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (the Matenadaran) published volume IX of The General Catalogue of Armenian Manuscripts of the Mashtots Matenadaran. The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) sponsored the publication of this volume, as part of its mission to preserve and promote Armenian heritage and culture.

This volume is comprised of overviews of 300 manuscripts from the 11th to 19th centuries, No. 2701-3000, mainly from the well-known New Collection. All manuscripts are of a particular scholarly and artistic value. Over 20 manuscripts that include correspondence of Catholicoi of All Armenians, Primates of Dioceses and prominent clergymen from the 18th to 19th centuries serve as primary sources of Armenian history of the same period. It is a major publication for scholars of Armenian and the Middle Eastern studies as well as related fields.

Acting Director of the Matenadaran Vahan Ter-Ghevondyan; Head of the Depositories of the Matenadaran Gevorg Ter-Vardanean; editor of volume IV Karen Matevosyan and Deputy Director of AGBU Armenia Hovig Eordekian delivered welcome speeches during the catalogue presentation in July 2017. “We are delighted to support the publication of this monumental catalogue for the benefit of academic circles, philologists and the ones interested in our manuscripts to study their historical and cultural values,” said Eordekian.

The Matenadaran houses around 300,000 documents, over 100,000 books and 17,000 manuscripts. Researchers and tourists travel from all over the world to see its national treasures, including the Gospel of Lazarus and Hakob Meghapart’s “Parzatumar,” one of the first Armenian books ever printed.

This initiative is one of many ways AGBU has supported the Matenadaran over the years. AGBU also financed the publication of volume III of The General Catalogue of Armenian Manuscripts of the Mashtots Matenadaran and Herald of the Matenadaran (Banber Matenadaran), an academic periodical. Acknowledging the need to advance Armenian Studies, AGBU also provides scholarships to doctoral students working in the Matenadaran.

]]>ISTANBUL — Turkish opposition Republican People’s party (CHP) lawmakers have visited human rights activists held in Istanbul’s Silivri prison, who were detained on July 5 and jailed on “terrorism” charges during a digital security and information management workshop in Istanbul’s Büyükada Island.

As Ermenihaber reports, the inmates have been unable to receive copies of the Armenian weekly Agos because officials say it is published in “Armenian language.” Özlem Dalkiran the Founder of the Citizens’ Assembly NGO has noted the limitation is a clear violation of the constitutional right to receive information.

To remind, the activists are being accused of aiding armed terror organizations for communications with suspects linked to Kurdish and left-wing militants as well as the movement led by U.S.-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of orchestrating last year’s coup attempt. Gulen has denied the claim.

Their arrests have added to widespread concerns about the erosion of rights and freedoms in Turkey. More than 50,000 people have been arrested after the failed July 2016 coup, including journalists and politicians, while more than 140 media organizations and nearly 2,000 NGOs have been shuttered.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288272017-09-15T06:00:27Z2017-09-15T06:00:27ZLOS ANGELES — The Richard Hovannisian Chair in Modern Armenian History with the co-sponsorship of the National Association for Armenian Studies and…

]]>LOS ANGELES — The Richard Hovannisian Chair in Modern Armenian History with the co-sponsorship of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) present “Abbot Mkhit‘ar of Sebastea: A Sacred Genius and an Enduring Challenge for Today”. A lecture by His Eminence, Archbishop Levon Zekiyan on Sunday, September 24, 2017, 1:30-3:00 PM at Royce Hall 314, UCLA.

Mkhit‘ar’s greatness derives from his character and achievements, which are considered worthy of those of Mesrop Mashtots‘. As a follower of the Armenian enlightenment tradition and drawing from Christian and human traditions, Mkhit‘ar accomplished a multifarious, multidimensional, and highly original synthesis. From an innovative concept of national identity to the faith of the Transcendent and the Eternal, from language to arts, from daily life to flights of the intellect, from a devotion to tradition to courageous, even audaciously novel experiments, Mkhit‘ar’s vision, message, and example remain with us today, as a challenge of an urgent nature and as a token of a bright and promising view of the future.

His Eminence, Archbishop Levon Zekiyan (Boghos by his Baptismal name) was the director and chair holder of the Armenian Language and Literature Chair at the University of Venice at Ca’ Foscari (1976-2011) and the executive editor of Bazmavep and Hay Entanik‘. He is the current Armenian Catholic Archeparch of Istanbul and continues to teach the history of the Armenian Church and theology at the Vatican’s Oriental Institute.

In 2016, Pope Francis appointed him as the Papal legate for the Mkhitarist Congregation of Venice. For many years he was a member of the AIEA (Association internationale des études arméniennes). He has over fourteen monographs on Armenological, theological, and philosophical topics, twenty-five edited volumes, and over two hundred published essays.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288232017-09-13T22:02:44Z2017-09-13T22:02:44ZYEREVAN (Panorama.am) — Within the framework of the Participation Program of UNESCO, an international conference titled “Pearl of Printing” will be held…

]]>YEREVAN (Panorama.am) — Within the framework of the Participation Program of UNESCO, an international conference titled “Pearl of Printing” will be held in the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, commonly referred to as Matenadaran in capital city Yerevan on September 19-20.

The event is dedicated to the 350th anniversary of the first printed version of Bible in Armenian (1666) by Voskan Yerevantsi, Matenadaran told Panorama.am.

The conference will be followed by an exposition of the best samples of the first printed Bibles in Armenian, as well as other ancient books. The exposition is implemented in collaboration with the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and the National Library of Armenia.

The Bible by Voskan Yerevantsi consists of 1462 pages presented in two columns (2924 columns) and 159 images. It was published in 5000 copies.

The basis for the Bible by Voskan Yerevantsi was the one copied in 1295 by the order of Hethum II, King of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. Yerevantsi edited this copy according to Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible. During printing he translated and added several books of the Old Testament missing from the Armenian Canon.

Voskan Yerevantsi asked famous artist-bookbinder Albert Magnus for a splendid example of the Bible, which he then gave to Louis XVI of France.

The Bible by Voskan Yerevantsi is considered one of the finest examples of old Armenian printing.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288192017-09-13T21:54:05Z2017-09-13T21:54:05ZSTRASBOURG (RFE/RL) — European lawmakers have called for a parliamentary investigation into an alleged secret fund operated by Azerbaijan’s ruling elite to…

]]>STRASBOURG (RFE/RL) — European lawmakers have called for a parliamentary investigation into an alleged secret fund operated by Azerbaijan’s ruling elite to pay off European politicians and make luxury purchases.

They made the call in a resolution approved on September 13 by 578 votes to 19, with 68 abstentions, according to a press release issued by the European Parliament.

According to an investigation carried out by a consortium of European newspapers, members of Azerbaijan’s ruling elite used a secret $2.9 billion slush fund — nicknamed the Azerbaijani Laundromat — to pay off European politicians, buy luxury goods, and launder money.

The report, published on September 4 by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), said “at least three European politicians, a journalist who wrote stories friendly to the regime, and businessmen who praised the government” were among the recipients of the money.

It said thousands of payments were allegedly channeled through four shell companies in Britain between 2012 and 2014 to buy “silence.”

Government opponents and rights groups have accused the government of the oil-producing Caspian Sea country of systematic corruption, vote-rigging, and the politically motivated persecution of opposition politicians, activists, and journalists.

The report alleged that there was evidence of a link between the fund and the family of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The Baku government rejected the findings of the report.

In their resolution, the European lawmakers denounced “attempts by Azerbaijan and other autocratic regimes in third countries to influence European decision-makers through illicit means.”

They also called for the adoption by parliament of “robust measures to prevent the occurrence of such corruption, which would undermine the credibility and legitimacy of parliament’s work, including on human rights.”

The resolution called on the EU to ensure that existing anticorruption conventions are enforced, add an anticorruption clause to its deals with non-EU countries, monitor EU-funded projects “closely and permanently,” and “use sanctions or suspend deals in cases of systemic corruption leading to serious human rights breaches.”

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288152017-09-13T21:45:32Z2017-09-13T21:45:32ZYEREVAN (Armenpress) — The Armenian-American Chamber of Commerce and the US Embassy in Armenia have gathered the business community representatives to more…

]]>YEREVAN (Armenpress) — The Armenian-American Chamber of Commerce and the US Embassy in Armenia have gathered the business community representatives to more thoroughly present the opportunities to export the Armenian products to US via the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).

During the conference Ara Hovsepyan – Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia (AmCham) delivered opening remarks stating that the organization has always assisted the Armenian business community to use this system.

“This system contributes to economic growth by ensuring the entry of goods from 129 countries to the United States through the privileged regime. Armenia is among these countries, more than 500 types of Armenian products can enter to the US via this regime without customs payments. The Armenian companies use this system, but on how it was successful I cannot say, however, there are positive trends. The US wants to increase the cooperation to a more serious level and boost the economic ties. On behalf of us I can state that everything is being done to present all these opportunities to the Armenian businessmen”, Hovsepyan said.

US Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills said Ed Gresser, the Assistant United States Trade Representative for Trade Policy and Economics has arrived in Armenia to hold discussions with Armenian businessmen and officials, present the system’s opportunities in a more thorough way, as well as to contribute to expanding the export potential from Armenia to US.

“For me, as an Ambassador, number one priority is the deepening of Armenian-American business and trade ties in Armenia, and for that reason today’s meeting is very important. There has been progress in Armenia on many occasions, but this program is really important for the Armenian business community, it can contribute to increasing the trade turnover volume between our countries. 60% of Armenia’s exports enters to the US via GSP program. Among those goods are jewelry products, jam and others”, the Ambassador said.

This is the second conference in Armenia on GSP trade regime related issues. Established by the Trade Act of 1974, GSP is a U.S. trade program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world. GSP provides preferential duty-free entry for up to 3,451 products from 129 designated beneficiary countries and territories, including Armenia. As a beneficiary country, the majority of U.S. imports from Armenia entered the United States under the GSP program from 2012-2016. Current Armenian exports to the United States through GSP are valued at $25 million.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287852017-09-13T06:38:54Z2017-09-13T06:38:54ZLAWYERS ARE “OFFICERS OF THE COURT” IRRESPECTIVE OF WHICH SIDE OF THE AISLE THEY CARRY OUT THEIR DUTIES: PROSECUTION OR DEFENSE, PLAINTIFF…

]]>LAWYERS ARE “OFFICERS OF THE COURT” IRRESPECTIVE OF WHICH SIDE OF THE AISLE THEY CARRY OUT THEIR DUTIES: PROSECUTION OR DEFENSE, PLAINTIFF OR DEFENDANT ԻՐԱՒԱԲԱՆՆԵՐԸ ԴԱՏԱՐԱՆԻ ՍՊԱՆԵՐ ԵՆ

The Armenian Rights Watch Committee (ARWC) of the Armenian Bar Association is greatly concerned by the intention to go on strike recently announced by a group of attorneys in Armenia. We find this a regrettable turn of events based on the facts as we understand them.

First, we note that courtroom security personnel throughout Armenia, tasked with the responsibility of keeping chambers of justice safe, have a number of appropriate tools at their disposal in undertaking their important duties.

That said, when confronting members of the bar at the gates of justice, it should be appreciated that lawyers are “officers of the court” irrespective of the side of the aisle from which they carry out their duties: prosecution or defense, plaintiff or defendant. The role of security personnel in courthouses is to promote respect for the administration of justice and uphold the respect that officers of the court and the court itself deserve. This role is a fundamental tenet of any modern, functioning justice system.

We understand, of course, that there should be reasonable safeguards to promote security. With respect to courtroom access, we do note that in most countries all persons entering courthouse facilities, along with all items carried by them, are subject to appropriate screening and search by security personnel. Certainly, persons may be requested to provide identification and to state the nature of their business in the courthouse. Anyone refusing to cooperate with these security measures is understandably denied entrance to the courthouse.

However, the ARWC cautions that the practices of police in courthouses across Armenia must be executed with access to justice in mind—and should be weary of overreaching under color of law. Security measures must respect an uninterrupted “right to counsel” of incarcerated citizens of Armenia who, of course, remain innocent until proven guilty. It is undeniable that, for attorneys to provide “effective assistance of counsel,” they often must move back and forth between the jails and the courts. To be fair, the onus to provide such facility to legal counsel—without unreasonable hindrance—falls squarely on the shoulders of law enforcement, whether courtroom security personnel and/or jailhouse staff.

The possibility of overplaying the security card is real, even where it may not be intentional: it is easy to understand how a lawyer may be hindered by security personnel who, while implementing courtroom security measures, unknowingly or unwittingly circumvent a litigant’s access to counsel and, in doing so, oppress justice. We think the time is ripe for relevant policies to be reviewed with serious consideration of this tenuous balance and, upon such assessment, clear direction be provided to all parties involved and engaged in the process.

This said, we are concerned about representations made by some of the lawyers who have declared an intention to go on strike. These attorneys, for some time now, have alleged that some of the criminal cases currently pending in Yerevan courthouses have become an excuse to clamp down on lawyers who are entering the courthouse and to subject them to unreasonably invasive searches.

Of course, the ARWC is concerned with any measure that constitutes an unreasonable search of lawyers as they enter a courthouse. To be clear, the protection of confidential client information and the fundamental nature of the attorney-client privilege is seriously compromised when courthouse security is given permission to rummage through attorneys’ case files, for example. There is an important, meaningful balance here—one which many societies governed by the rule of law have been able to embrace and implement in the modern era of heightened security risks. There is surely room to provide safety and protection in the judicial process while not trampling the very legal privileges and principles for which the judicial process stands. And, surely still, we are confident that such balance can be struck not only in Armenia’s legal code—but implemented at the doors of its courthouses and jails as well.

The ARWC remains concerned that the recent turn of events may paint a rather bleak picture: that there is a growing lack of respect for the role of the practicing bar in the justice system. We do hope that the impasse remains an isolated instance which can be addressed and remedied timely by the Chamber of Advocates of the Republic, comprised of well over 1800 Armenian lawyers. Certainly, should we be called upon, we stand ready to assist.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288072017-09-13T06:04:21Z2017-09-13T06:04:21ZYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia is ready, in principle, to send a demining team to Syria as part of a multinational “coalition” that…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia is ready, in principle, to send a demining team to Syria as part of a multinational “coalition” that could be formed by Russia, the Defense Ministry in Yerevan said on Monday.

A top Russian military official said late last month that Armenia and Serbia have expressed readiness to join such a coalition which Russia hopes would help its troops clear landmines in the war-torn country. Moscow formally proposed its creation at the United Nations in April.

The Armenian government did not immediately confirm the Russian official’s statement. A spokesman for President Serzh Sarkisian said only that official Yerevan will make a statement “when a decision is made and all issues are clarified.”

In a written statement to RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am), the Defense Ministry clarified that the Armenian and Russian militaries already held “preliminary working discussions” last year on the possibility of Armenia’s participation in “humanitarian demining efforts in Syria.”

“During the discussions, Armenia expressed readiness to consider possibilities of becoming involved with a humanitarian demining detachment — in case of the launch of such an initiative, the Syrian government’s consent, and observance of all international legal procedures — in those parts of Syria where there are no ongoing hostilities,” said the statement.

“At the moment, the Armenian Defense Ministry has no information regarding the course of the formation of the coalition, its composition and especially time frames for its deployment,” it stressed.

The issue was also on the agenda of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s April 2016 visit to Yerevan. Lavrov discussed possible Armenian involvement in demining operations in the historic Syrian city of Palmyra when he met with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian. “I hope that our joint initiative can be implemented,” he said after the talks.

It is not clear whether Sarkisian and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about Syria when they met in the Russian city of Sochi on August 23. The Armenian presidential press service said they discussed “topical international and regional issues.”

Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led military alliance of six ex-Soviet states.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288032017-09-13T06:02:50Z2017-09-13T06:02:50ZYEREVAN — A landmark agreement to deepen the European Union’s relations with Armenia will most likely be signed as planned in November,…

]]>YEREVAN — A landmark agreement to deepen the European Union’s relations with Armenia will most likely be signed as planned in November, Germany’s and France’s ambassadors in Yerevan said on Tuesday.

“At the moment there are no circumstances that could hamper that process,” the German envoy, Matthias Kiesler, told a joint news conference with his outgoing French counterpart, Jean-Francois Charpentier.

“I consider the new agreement a great success and believe that if signed, it will open up new and multiple opportunities for deepening EU-Armenia cooperation,” added Kiesler.

Charpentier likewise said that “all prerequisites are in place” for the signing of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) during an EU summit in Brussels slated for November 24. Armenia would thus become the first member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union to have such an “ambitious” deal with the EU, he said.

The CEPA, which was finalized in March, is meant to deepen the EU’s political and economic relations with Armenia. It reportedly contains the main political provisions of a more far-reaching Association Agreement which the two sides nearly concluded in 2013.

President Serzh Sarkisian prevented the signing of that agreement with his unexpected decision to seek Armenia’s accession to the EEU. The move was widely attributed to Russian pressure exerted on the Armenian government.

The head of the EU Delegation in Yerevan, Piotr Switalski, said last week that officials in Brussels are making final preparations for the signing of the accord with Armenia at the November summit.

The summit will focus on the EU’s Eastern Partnership program of closer partnership with six former Soviet republics. Three of them — Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine — have signed Association Agreements with the EU.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=288112017-09-13T06:00:32Z2017-09-13T06:00:32ZSTEPANAKERT (Armradio) — Armenian-Polish working group of archeologists has restarted its excavations in Metsamor at September 1 and has already registered some…

]]>STEPANAKERT (Armradio) — Armenian-Polish working group of archeologists has restarted its excavations in Metsamor at September 1 and has already registered some results, Artsakhpress reports.

New rooms have been revealed in the municipal part of the territory, as well as graves, human skeletons, metal tools which are preliminary attributed to 8-6th centuries BC.

The archeologists try to trace the changes in the territory from the Late Bronze Age to the period of Achaemenides. According to the co-pilot of the expedition, the Head of the Institute of Archeology in the University of Warsaw, professor Krzysztof Jakubiak, Metsamor has an important role among the settlements of the Ararat Valley in this aspect.

“During the Early Iron Age Metsamor had been a city and was destroyed by the Urartians. Now graves are found, other finds are revealed, evidences of demolition are registered. They enrich our understanding of the influence of Argishti the First and the later Urartians on Metsamor”, Jakubiak said.

At the moment anthropological materials are being studied, while the organic materials, such as charcoal and others, will be sent abroad for a laboratory study. It will help to date the finds correctly.

Professor Jakubiak participated in many archeological expeditions in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq. “Armenia is a country which bears Christian-European values and it is easy to work here. My Armenian colleagues have enough experience and knowledge. Armenian people are frank and friendly”, he said.

]]>DAYTON, OH – Dawn Anahid MacKeen’s book, The Hundred-Year Walk: An Armenian Odyssey, is a finalist for the prestigious Dayton Literary Peace Prize in nonfiction. She is one of twelve authors shortlisted in nonfiction and fiction for the award, which recognizes the power of literature to promote peace and reconciliation.

Inspired by the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia, The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is the only international literary peace prize awarded in the United States. The Prize celebrates the power of literature to promote peace, justice, and global understanding. This year’s winners will be honored at a gala ceremony in Dayton on November 5th.

The other finalists include Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Underground Railroad, and J.D. Vance’s best-selling Hillbilly Elegy. “At a time of great uncertainty in the world, this year’s finalists reveal how we got to this point and offer powerful lessons on how we can heal, reconcile, and build a better world,” said Sharon Rab, co-chair of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation. “Now more than ever, we need to celebrate authors who dare to explore the impact of war, exile, racism, and economic inequality and, more importantly, endeavor to offer hope in these tumultuous times.”

The Hundred-Year Walk tells the courageous story of MacKeen’s grandfather, Stepan Miskjian, one of the few to survive the massacres in the Deir Zor region of present-day Syria. Miskjian left hundreds of pages detailing his survival, which MacKeen, an investigative journalist, used to reconstruct his life and death march. She then retraced his steps across Turkey and Syria. The book alternates between the two accounts. Miskjian believed he’d lived in order to tell the world about the atrocities. “Being a witness to that satanic pogrom, I vowed it as my duty to put to paper what I saw,” Miskjian wrote in his notebooks.

Both the New York Post and Outside declared the book a “must read.” It was also awarded best biography by the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and longlisted for the Chautauqua Prize. It’s beginning to be taught in universities and high schools. “I’m so honored that many students and readers are learning about the genocide for the first time through my grandfather’s story,” MacKeen said. “Education is the reason why I spent a decade on this book.”

Award organizers announced in July that Irish novelist, journalist, and essayist Colm Tóibín, whose fiction and nonfiction captures the impact of exile and political conflict on individual lives, will receive the 2017 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, named in honor of the noted U.S. diplomat who helped negotiate the Dayton Peace Accords.

The full list of finalists can be found below and at www.daytonliterarypeaceprize.org.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287982017-09-13T05:53:26Z2017-09-13T05:53:26ZNEW YORK – For the first time in almost a century, composer Barsegh Kanachian’s opera Monk, a tragic love story set on…

]]>NEW YORK – For the first time in almost a century, composer Barsegh Kanachian’s opera Monk, a tragic love story set on the shores of Lake Sevan, will be featured on the world stage at The Master Theater under the artistic direction of Gosh Sargsyan, musical direction of Knarik Vardanyan and featuring the talents of Astghikner Youth Choir and the Shushi Dance Ensemble.

This special event, under the auspices of His Eminence Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) and sponsored by the Sahakyan Brothers, was brought to life through the shared musical passion of producers Maria Sahakyan, a New York-based vocalist and Sargsyan, who hails from Armenia and has directed creative works both in the homeland and abroad.

“One of our unique cultural pieces of the Armenian musical world is the Monk opera,” said Sargsyan, who has taught at the Abovyan Armenian State Pedagogical University for the past 14 years. “And after nearly eight decades of silence, I feel pride that we are able to stage this production in New York City.”

Not only is the opera being given a rebirth, it is also the debut performance of youth in Monk. In addition to lead actors Artur Babayan and Alen Manukyan, the opera will feature the voices of Armenians from the homeland and the Diaspora, alongside New York-based musical students of all backgrounds – from Mexican to Jewish to Russian to Georgian – who learned Armenian music under the training and guidance of Sahakyan.

The youth, aged 4-17, are members of Astghikner Youth Choir, which was founded by Sahakyan during her time as a teacher at St. Gregory Armenian Church Mission Parish of Brooklyn, New York. She welcomed anyone with a desire to learn Armenian music.

“Music and opera has no language and no religion,” said Sahakyan, who studied vocals and piano at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan. “Music unites us all and brings us together.”

Rehearsing since February, Sahakyan notes the youth’s dedication, who stay active and engaged during their five-hour rehearsals. All talented in their own right, the children are pursuing music both inside and outside of school. And by joining Astghikner, they have made new friends and shared a cross-cultural experience while keeping Armenian music alive.

“I like singing because I feel happy when I’m on stage and it’s been fun to work with other kids on this opera,” said Dea Arabuli, a kindergartener who decided to join Astghikner to learn about the Armenian music and culture.

“I’ve learned a lot over the past few months, especially the certain ways to talk in Armenian and pronounce the words,” said 11-year-old Emily Plakht, a student in the musical theater program at IS 228 in New York. “I love singing and feeling the music, which is always a part of me.” This won’t be the first time Emily is on stage as she won first place in the musical Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs at Carnegie Hall.

“It’s my life’s work to work with kids and I can’t imagine my life without it,” said Sahakyan, who is a private vocal coach and serves in the St. Vartan Cathedral Choir. “The children may be small stars now but I know they will grow up and become big stars.”

The skillful voices of these youth will indeed enhance the experience of Monk, which takes place on an ancient island of Sevan, where a church is built at the request of Princess Mariam. When her brother and his daughter, Seda, come to see the church on a raft, the stormy lake flips them over. A monk saves Seda from drowning in the lake but he then loses the peace of his soul and body and his inner world becomes filled with Seda’s magic vision. Every night on Lake Sevan, the monk stares into the sky and waits for Seda’s call. Unable to move on from his love for her, he throws himself into the water.

“Our main goal is the preservation of Armenian art around the world,” said Sargsyan. “This is a unique cultural experience where children of all nations will unite and sing together is Armenian language,” said Sargsyan, who has been working with children in the theater and opera worlds for almost two decades.

The melancholy yet alluring story comes to life with the charming décor, set pieces, handmade costumes and the artistic performances of the Shushi Dance Ensemble.

“When I was approached by Gosh and Maria, I was impressed with their vision and professionalism as well as the story,” said Seta Kantardjian, artistic director and choreographer who founded the ensemble 25 years ago. “The first time I saw the children sing, I thought they were phenomenal and I couldn’t resist the idea of Shushi being involved in a musical, which will be a first for us.”

The opera will be featured in the First Time Around the World Stage series, with plans to perform around the world so that Kanachian’s masterpiece will continue to delight a new generation. A composer and conductor who studied musical theory, Kanachian was born in the Ottoman Empire in 1885 and contributed greatly to the Armenian culture while living in the Diaspora, with stints in Istanbul, Paris, Cyprus and Lebanon, where he died in 1967. He is mostly known for arranging the music to the Armenian national anthem, Mer Hairenik along with the famous traditional Armenian lullaby Oror Im Palas. A meeting with Komitas Vardapet in 1910 helped him decide to become a musician and dedicate his life’s work to the Armenian people. Kanachian’s own daughter, Seda, will travel from Beirut to New York with her daughters to see her father’s opera come to life on the stage after 80 years.

“Music has always played an important role in the life of the Armenian people, as a force that brings us together,” said Archibishop Barsamian. “That great tradition has also left an imprint on the operatic stage, as newer, younger talents, add their distinct voices to our national chorus. The future will be enriched by the creative powers which are alive in our younger generation—as this opera, Monk, reminds us.”

“We don’t want this opera to die,” said Sahakyan. “We want it to live, like Bizet’s Carmen, and we want to uphold our Armenian artistic tradition while doing so.”

The Monk opera will take place on Friday evening, October 13, 2017 at the Master Theater, 1029 Brighton Beach Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. For tickets please visit mastertheater.com or call (718) 732-3838 or (347) 882-4418.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287792017-09-11T21:05:18Z2017-09-11T21:05:18ZLOS ANGELES — If Paul Berberian had his way, kindergarteners would start coding as soon as they could count to 10 and…

]]>LOS ANGELES — If Paul Berberian had his way, kindergarteners would start coding as soon as they could count to 10 and recite the alphabet.

Computation, Berberian believes, is the lingua franca of the future. “Every child must learn about these machines—how to communicate with them, how they interact with each other,” he says. “Otherwise they will be without a language to talk to the world.”

Berberian is CEO of Sphero, the Boulder, Colorado-based maker of smartphone-controlled robots that are already transforming STEM instruction around the world.

He will flesh out his tech-centric educational vision at the 2017 INNOVATE ARMENIA festival on Saturday, September 23, at USC.

Today’s world population of Sphero robots—including the company’s popular Star Wars BB-8 and R2-D2 droids, which topped many a child’s 2016 Christmas wish list—exceeds 3 million. The orb-shaped smart gadgets are sold in 70 countries, and the mobile app that controls them is available in seven languages, including Mandarin and Portuguese. A million schoolchildren now use Sphero in classrooms worldwide.

The educational version of Sphero comes bundled in a 12-pack suitcase that teachers can wheel from classroom to playground to the art studio and even the pool deck.

The robot is waterproof, battery-efficient and, according to Berberian, virtually indestructible.

A straightforward math lesson has third graders programming their robots to sketch a square. Go 2 feet, turn 90 degrees left, repeat. “It’s eight lines of code. Very simple,” says Berberian. Next, they’re asked to “drive” a triangle. By the end of the class, these 8-year-olds have independently discovered 7th grade-level concepts like the Pythagorean theorem. Before long, they’re navigating elaborate mazes using precision measurements, irregular angles, variable timing and other sophisticated spatial concepts.

Rethinking STEM
Berberian’s talk is part of an outside-the-box festival that explores what it means to be Armenian in the 21st century and celebrates the accomplishments of innovators everywhere – especially and including in Armenia. STEM has always been an important component of education and excellence in Armenia.

“The 21st century is about reimagining and reinventing so many things,” says USC Institute of Armenian Studies director Salpi Ghazarian. “A consistent tool in this process is technology and how it can be bent in new ways. Armenians have, and continue to, excel in STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and math.”

INNOVATE ARMENIA is now in its third year. Last year’s festival, which focused on the digital humanities, drew 3,000 attendees and 20,000 more watched online. This year’s program has an emphasis on re-imagining and re-inventing, with an emphasis on STEM education.

Armenia’s young people, from throughout the country, not just Yerevan, continue to punch above their weight, as demonstrated by impressive Armenian medal counts at the annual International Mathematics Competition (IMC) for university students and the International Mathematical Olympiad for high school students. At INNOVATE ARMENIA, IMC silver medalist Gevorg Mnatsakanyan will represent the 2017 Yerevan State University team. All four team members won gold or silver at last month’s competition in Bulgaria, and students from other Armenian universities bagged four additional medals.

From California, NASA engineer and USC professor Michael Kezirian and his students will bring and demonstrate Aerocene – an inflatable hot air balloon at the intersection of art, engineering and environmental science.

There will also be a Makerspace equipped with laser cutters and 3D printers, where engineers and students from PCC, USC and CalTech will create an environment for collaborative creation.

Armenians produce a disproportionately large number of chess masters, too. More than merely the national pastime, chess is a required subject in the Armenian school curriculum. At INNOVATE ARMENIA, top-five ranked U.S. national women’s chess team member Tatev Abrahamyan, and international master and coach Andranik Matikozyan will play against attendees one-on-one and in simultaneous games.

This festival makes it possible for everybody to rethink and reimagine, Ghazarian notes, especially in a city as multiethnic as Los Angeles. “Anyone, including those whose ancestors arrived on the Mayflower, will find something to pique their interest,” she says.

At the USC Doheny Library, a unique installation of 19th century postcards from Armenian areas of the Ottoman Empire are juxtapositioned with lifesize images of some of the same spaces, today. “UNDELIVERABLE: Postcards and Photos of Lives Interrupted” is a pointed, impactful way of rethinking the loss brought on by the genocide and the civilization that no longer exists.

A music stage will feature innovative musicians from throughout the US and Armenia, all day.

General festival information
Innovate Armenia takes place Saturday, September 23, 10 am to 6 pm in Alumni Park and Bovard Hall on USC’s University Park Campus. Admission is free. All-day parking is $12 in USC parking structures. Participants are encouraged to park in Lot X at the corner of Figueroa and McCarthy Way, just off the Exposition Blvd exit of the 110 Freeway.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287752017-09-11T19:32:03Z2017-09-11T19:32:03ZYEREVAN (Armradio) — On September 8, as a result of the trilateral meeting of the spiritual leaders of the region in Moscow,…

]]>YEREVAN (Armradio) — On September 8, as a result of the trilateral meeting of the spiritual leaders of the region in Moscow, Russia; His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; His Holiness Kirill I, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; and Sheikh ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, Grand Mufti of the Muslims of the Caucasus, made the following statement:

Today, we the spiritual leaders of Azerbaijani and Armenia, once again met in Moscow at the invitation of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, to discuss ways of a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, without which it is impossible to achieve reconciliation and comprehensive security in the Caucasus.

We attach a special significance to the consistent development of the peacekeeping dialogue, the continuation of the negotiations, and the international community’s mediatory efforts which will help to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the conflict.

We are convinced that disagreements can be overcome, relying on the moral values of kindness, love for thy neighbor, mutual forgiveness, and benevolence; propagated by the principles of good-neighborliness and traditional religions.

]]>ORANGE, CA – Chapman University’s Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education will host a conversation on the Armenian Genocide with distinguished scholars and Chapman University Presidential Fellows Dr. Richard Hovannisian and Dr. David Crowe. Their conversation will focus on recent research on the Armenian Genocide, including the foreign office records of Germany, Turkey’s most important ally during World War I. These detailed reports of German diplomats, missionaries, and businessmen raise the crucial question of why knowledge alone is not sufficient to stop genocide. The event is part of the Center’s series “History, Memory, Justice.”

Dr. Richard Hovannisian is Professor Emeritus of History at UCLA and Adjunct Professor of History at USC. He has published more than 30 volumes on Armenian history and culture, including Looking Backward, Moving Forward: Confronting the Armenian Genocide.

Dr. David Crowe is Professor of History Emeritus at Elon University and the author of the definitive biography on Oskar Schindler, as well as numerous books on the history of genocide, including War Crimes, Genocide, and Justice: A Global History.

The conversation will be moderated by Dr. Jennifer Keene, Chair of the Department of History in Chapman University’s Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and current President of the Society of Military History.

This event will take place September 26, at 7 p.m., at Chapman University’s Fish Interfaith Center – it is free and open to the public. Parking for events is available on campus in the Fred L. Barrera Parking Structure on Sycamore Street and the Lastinger Parking Structure on Walnut Avenue. Permits costing $2 for two hours and $3 for four hours may be purchased at each structure.
About Chapman University
A
s an academically distinguished center of learning, Chapman University attracts extraordinary students and faculty from around the globe. Its ten schools and colleges foster a vibrant intellectual community, and provide extensive opportunities for students to learn, grow and discover alongside remarkable faculty. The University is home to 8,500 students pursuing bachelor, master and doctoral degrees, and is alma mater to more than 40,000 alumni found throughout the United States and the world. Now celebrating its 156th year, Chapman is known for its distinguishing strengths in leadership and civic engagement, in the arts and entertainment disciplines, and in specialized sectors of technology and science. The University is comprised of its main campus in Orange, California, and the Rinker Health Science campus for graduate health science programs in Irvine, California.

]]>BAKU (RFE/RL) — Aleksandr Lapshin, a Russian-Israeli blogger jailed in Azerbaijan for travelling to Nagorno-Karabakh, was pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev on Monday after reportedly attempting to commit suicide.

A senior aide to Aliyev, Ali Hasanov, said he will most likely be sent to Israel within the next few days. Hasanov also revealed that Lapshin is currently receiving medical assistance after he tried to kill himself while in Azerbaijani custody.

According to Azerbaijan’s Justice Minister, Lapshin attempted to take his own life on Sunday in protest a delay in his extradition to Israel. “Thanks to the vigilance of prison guards, the suicide attempt was thwarted,” the ministry’s Penitentiary Service said in a statement cited by Azerbaijani media.

The 40-year-old blogger, who has Israeli, Russian and Ukrainian citizenships, was detained in Belarus’s capital Minsk on an Azerbaijani arrest warrant last December. The Belarusian authorities extradited him to Azerbaijan in February, prompting strong criticism from Armenia and Russia as well as Western watchdogs like Amnesty International. Azerbaijan rejected the criticism.

An Azerbaijani court sentenced Lapshin to three years in prison in July. It said he illegally crossed Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized borders when he travelled to Karabakh via Armenia in 2011 and 2012.Lapshin gave detailed accounts of those visits on his Russian-language travel blog.

The blogger pleaded not guilty to the accusation during his trial. At the same time, he said he now understands that his trips to Karabakh offended many Azerbaijanis.

Years before his arrest, Lapshin was placed on an official Azerbaijani blacklist of several hundred non-Armenian foreigners who have visited Karabakh without Baku’s permission. Nevertheless, he was able to travel to Azerbaijan in June 2016 and post a series of detailed blog entries on his mixed impressions about the oil-rich country.

In particular, Lapshin suggested that the Azerbaijani authorities have squandered their massive oil revenues. “Despite 25 years of oil bonanza, the country is hardly different from neighboring Armenia and Georgia in terms of socioeconomic development,” he wrote.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287622017-09-08T18:57:52Z2017-09-08T18:57:52ZWASHINGTON, DC (VOA) — Two Turkish-American men involved in a brawl at the Turkish Embassy earlier this year pleaded not guilty to…

]]>WASHINGTON, DC (VOA) — Two Turkish-American men involved in a brawl at the Turkish Embassy earlier this year pleaded not guilty to assault charges in a Washington, D.C., courtroom Thursday.

Sinan Narin of Virginia and Eyup Yildirim of New Jersey faced charges of felony aggravated assault as well as making assault threats.

Court documents from Thursday indicate the men both entered pleas of not guilty and asked for a jury trial.

Eighteen people, many of whom were members of the Turkish president’s security detail, were indicted for allegedly attacking protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence on May 16. All 18 were charged with conspiracy to commit a crime of violence, a felony punishable by a maximum of 15 years in prison. Several faced additional charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

D.C. police have arrested four suspects with U.S. addresses, including Narin and Yildirim; but warrants are still out for 14 Turkish security officers.

Another suspect — Ayten Necmi of New York — is due in court September 22, while the case of the fourth detainee, Jalal Kheirabaoi of Virginia, has been dismissed.

The brawl took place outside the residence of Turkey’s ambassador to Washington shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House.

Video of the protest recorded by VOA’s Turkish service shows what appear to be security guards and some Erdogan supporters attacking a small group of demonstrators.

Men in dark suits and others were recorded repeatedly kicking one woman as she was curled up on a sidewalk. Another wrenched a woman’s neck and threw her to the ground. A man with a bullhorn was repeatedly kicked in the face.

After police officers struggled to protect the protesters and ordered the attackers to retreat, several suspects dodged the officers and continued the attacks.

The Turkish Embassy claimed that Erdogan’s bodyguards were acting in “self-defense” during the incident, and that the protesters were affiliated with the Turkish left wing PKK or Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

The “Committee recommends assistance for the victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in amounts consistent with prior fiscal years, and for ongoing needs related to the conflict.” The Committee urges a peaceful resolution to the conflict, which, given Azerbaijan’s recent and unprecedented attacks against Armenia and Artsakh, underscores the importance of implementing an accurate cease-fire monitoring system along the line of contact.

The Committee also adopted an amendment offered by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), which would prohibit arms sales to the Turkish Presidential Protection Directorate in light of the vicious attack by Turkey’s security detail in Washington, D.C. against peaceful protesters on May 17, 2017. Last week, nineteen people, including 15 Turkish security officials, were indicted as a result of this attack in front of the Turkish Ambassador’s residence during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit.

The bill also maintains Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act, restating the six customary exemptions for humanitarian and other assistance to Azerbaijan. The Assembly continues to call for full enforcement of Section 907 given Azerbaijan’s hostile and aggressive actions against Armenians.

As part of the Manager’s amendment package, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) included bill language on visa restrictions for Azeri officials “about whom the Secretary of State has credible information have been involved in the wrongful imprisonment of Mehman Aliyev, the director of Turan, Azerbaijan’s last remaining independent news outlet.” Similarly, Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) included language regarding visa denial for Turkish officials involved in prolonging the unlawful detention of U.S. citizens in Turkey.

The bill also promotes international religious freedom and protection for persecuted religious minorities, particularly in the Middle East. The $25 million programs also includes $5 million for atrocities prevention programs.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287542017-09-08T05:55:15Z2017-09-08T05:55:15ZSTEPANAKERT — Bako Sahakian, Nagorno-Karabakh’s president, was sworn in for another term on Thursday almost two months after local lawmakers voted to…

]]>STEPANAKERT — Bako Sahakian, Nagorno-Karabakh’s president, was sworn in for another term on Thursday almost two months after local lawmakers voted to extend his decade-long rule.

Sahakian, 57, was reelected after serving two consecutive five-year terms. He was not allowed to stay in power longer before Karabakh enacted a new constitution in a referendum held in February.

The new constitution calls for the Armenian-populated region’s transition by 2020 to a fully presidential system of government which will lead to the abolition of the post of prime minister. The authorities in Stepanakert say this change will put Karabakh in a better position to cope with the unresolved conflict with Azerbaijan. Their opponents maintain, however that Sahakian is simply keen to cling to power.

Sahakian will continue governing Karabakh as an interim president until 2020. His candidacy for that post was backed in July by 28 of the 33 members of the Karabakh parliament representing three political parties allied to him.

Sahakian pledged to implement democratic reforms, strengthen Karabakh’s security and ensure continued economic growth of the local economy in his speech at an inauguration ceremony held in Stepanakert. “We are going to do everything to protect the honor and dignity of the Armenian people,” he declared.

The Karabakh leader again did not clarify whether he will run in the next presidential election due in 2020.

Vitaly Balasanian, the secretary of Karabakh’s presidential Security Council, suggested in July that Sahakian is unlikely to seek another reelection in 2020.

A retired army general, Balasanian was the main opposition candidate in Karabakh’s last presidential ballot held in 2012.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287492017-09-08T05:48:47Z2017-09-08T05:48:47ZFRESNO — The CineCulture Film Series and the Armenian Studies Program at California State University, Fresno, are sponsoring a special screening of…

]]>FRESNO — The CineCulture Film Series and the Armenian Studies Program at California State University, Fresno, are sponsoring a special screening of the film The Promise at 5:00PM on Friday, September 29, in the Leon and Pete Peters Educational Auditorium (5010 N. Woodrow Ave., at the west end of the SaveMart Center, near Shaw and Woodrow Aves.), on the Fresno State campus.

Filmmaker and The Promise associate producer Carla Garapedian will be present as a discussant and to answer questions after the screening. She is the director of Screamers, a documentary film which focused on the problem of genocide in the world. The film featured the band “System of a Down,” and received international attention.

The Promise opened in theaters in April of 2017 and tells the story of the Armenian Genocide through a love story involving Michael (Oscar Isaac), a brilliant medical student, who meets Ana (Charlotte Le Bon). A romantic rivalry emerges between Michael and Ana’s boyfriend Chris (Christian Bale), a famous American photojournalist dedicated to exposing political truth. As the Ottoman Empire entered World War I and the Armenian Genocide began, their conflicting passions were deferred while they joined forces to try to protect the Armenians and survive themselves. The Promise is directed by Academy Award winning filmmaker Terry George.

Admission is free, but seating is limited. The screening is open to the public and free parking is available at any of the adjacent Fresno State parking lots (near the corner of Shaw and Woodrow Avenues).

For more information about the presentation please contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669, or visit our website at www.fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287452017-09-08T05:38:23Z2017-09-08T05:38:23ZYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — President Serzh Sarkisian has controversially awarded a medal for academic excellence to the teenage son of an Armenian town…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — President Serzh Sarkisian has controversially awarded a medal for academic excellence to the teenage son of an Armenian town mayor charged with running over and killing a man with a government-owned car.

The 16-year-old Razmik Danielian, whose father Aram has governed the town of Hrazdan for almost 15 years, was among more than 100 schoolchildren who were awarded for their good grades on August 29. “I want to thank you for your deep curiosity and hard work,” Sarkisian said at a ceremony held in the presidential palace in Yerevan.

The ceremony came almost three months after a 58-year-old resident of Hrazdan, Valeri Torosian, was hit by a car and died in hospital shortly afterwards. According to Armenia’s Investigative Committee, the car belonging to the municipal administration was driven by Razmik Danielian and violated traffic rules.

Danielian has no driving license because of his young age. The law-enforcement agency decided not to keep him in custody pending investigation.

The Hrazdan mayor, who is affiliated with Sarkisian’s ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), acknowledged later in June that his son caused the deadly accident.

Sarkisian’s decision to hand the state award to the delinquent teenager has prompted strong criticism from independent Armenian media outlets. Some media commentators have portrayed it as further proof of impunity enjoyed by senior government officials, their cronies and relatives.

Education Minister Levon Mkrtchian, who also attended the award ceremony, dismissed the criticism when he spoke to reporters on Thursday. He insisted that Sarkisian did not know that the school student from Hrazdan is the mayor’s son. Danielian and the other students were nominated for the awards by the Education Ministry, he said.

“Why should [the president] know or not know that? After all, the medals are given for academic excellence,” added Mkrtchian, who is a senior member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), the HHK’s junior coalition partner.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear when the criminal investigation into the Hrazdan accident will be completed.

“The investigation is continuing,” Sona Truzian, a spokeswoman for the Investigative Committee, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). “We established that an underage person was at the wheel and he is prosecuted as the suspect in the case.”

Truzian claimed that forensic tests conducted so far produced no definitive results on the precise circumstances of the accident and that investigators have ordered more such tests because of that.“We need to receive a [forensic] conclusion before we can make a final evaluation,” she said. “The extent of any individual’s guilt has to be determined on the basis of forensic examinations.”

Speaking on his amendment, Rep. Valadao stated: “It is a grave reality that families in Nagorno Karabakh live under the very real threat of landmine accidents each and every day.” He went on, “However, with the funding secured in my amendment, I am optimistic significant strides will be made to ensure the region is landmine free by 2020, restoring these communities so they may live without fear of mine-related accidents.”

Rep. Speier added: “I want to thank my colleagues in Congress for providing critically needed funding for the ongoing effort to remove deadly landmines from Artsakh. Given the danger posed to the people of this Republic – an area that suffers the highest per capita incidence of landmine accidents in the world, with a third of these casualties involving children – this modest $1.5 million amendment is destined to have a major impact on the physical and mental health of the people of Artsakh. It is also shows our government’s strong and abiding commitment to securing peace and prosperity for Artsakh, which has achieved great progress and has an even brighter future on its horizon.”

The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) welcomed the adoption of the bipartisan amendment. Earlier this year, Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny outlined key priorities in the Assembly’s congressional testimony submitted to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, which called for robust funding to Artsakh, including for de-mining purposes. The Assembly’s testimony to Congress stated: “For a relatively small investment, America has the opportunity to make a significant difference in the everyday lives of the people of Artsakh.”

The HALO Trust has been clearing landmines and cluster munitions in Artsakh since 2000. HALO has cleared 88 percent of the territory’s minefields, with the goal to clear all landmines in Artsakh by 2020. According to The Halo Trust, Artsakh has “the highest per capita incidence of landmine accidents in the world — a third of the victims are children.”

In 2012, at the same time when Hungary extradited the Azeri axe-murdered Ramil Safarov, who had killed an Armenian officer, more than 7 million dollars were transferred to a bank account under the name of an Azerbaijani official’s son in the Hungarian MKB bank.

In a report of the anti-corruption Átlátszó website, the new details prove that by extraditing Safarov, Hungary actually had a hidden agenda other than strengthening its political ties with the country.

The MKB account was linked with an offshore company, which was closely tied with the Azerbaijani government. The money was transferred to Hungary through Metastar Invest LLP to the account which was in turn linked with an offshore company called Velasco International.

It is noteworthy that the 7 million USD transaction coincided with the “expansion” of diplomatic relations between Hungary and Azerbaijan. In 2014, Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban met with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Budapest, and the sides signed an agreement on strategic cooperation. The sides went on to meet again in the future in a “warm environment”.

Metastar Invest LLP is the company which was used by Azerbaijan to pay off PACE lawmaker Luca Volonte, who is currently under investigation in Italy. Volonte himself was not only a “friend” of Azerbaijan, but also of Viktor Orban. Volonte branded the criticism against the Hungarian PM’s regime as “ a witch hunt”.

Velasco International, who owned the account in the Hungarian bank, has close ties with Hungary and Azerbaijan. The company, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands, is owned by Orkhan Eyyubov, the son of Azerbaijan’s deputy PM Yakub Eyyubov.

Átlátszó revelations show that those involved included also an intelligence officer of Orban’s government, a representative of the PM’s chief advisor and other high-ranking officials.

Apparently Orban “sold” the axe-murderer to Azerbaijan for 7 million dollars.

Ramil Safarov, the notorious killer of the Armenian officer, was welcomed as a hero in Azerbaijan upon extradition.

]]>YEREVAN — A senior Armenian military official has praised Israeli authorities’ reported decision to halt exports to Azerbaijan of “suicide” drones manufactured by an Israeli company accused of using them against an Armenian army position.

In a newspaper interview published this week, Deputy Defense Minister Davit Pakhchanian echoed those accusations, saying that Israeli arms dealers have repeatedly struck Armenian targets at the behest of Azerbaijani officials.

The company in question, Aeronautics Defense Systems (ADS), said last week that the Israeli Defense Ministry’s export control agency has at least temporarily banned it from delivering a batch of Orbiter 1K drones to a key foreign client. In a statement, ADS said it was due to supply $20 million worth of such unmanned aircraft, capable of carrying special explosive payload, to the client in 2017-2018.

The ADS statement did not specify the buyer of the sophisticated weapon. But it did attribute the ban to an ongoing inquiry conducted by the Israeli agency.

The Israeli newspaper “Maariv” reported on August 13 that the agency launched an investigation after receiving a formal complaint stemming from ADS’s commercial dealings with the Azerbaijani government. It said ADS representatives traveled to Azerbaijan earlier this summer to finalize a contract for the sale of Orbiter drones to the Azerbaijani military.

The paper claimed that two Israeli drone operators working for the company rebuffed Azerbaijani officials’ demand to demonstrate the use of the deadly drone by hitting the Armenian position with it. But other, more senior ADS executives agreed on launch the deadly craft on the target, according to “Maariv.” ADS denied the report.

According to Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army, the Azerbaijani military most recently attacked its frontline positions with a suicide drone on July 7. The commander of an army unit stationed in northeastern Karabakh said in early August that two of his soldiers were lightly wounded in the incident.

“Naturally, I find the Israeli Defense Ministry’s decision positive, but they must be consistent,” Pakhchanian told the Armenian military’s “Hay Zinvor” newspaper. “That incident may have been exposed, but I am convinced that there have been many more such cases.” Pakhchanian did not elaborate.

The Azerbaijani army heavily used similar suicide drones manufactured by another Israeli company, Israel Aerospace Industries, during the April 2016 hostilities in Karabakh. Baku had bought the Harop drones as part of multimillion-dollar defense contracts signed with Israeli arms manufacturers.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287292017-09-06T20:48:38Z2017-09-06T20:48:38ZNEW YORK — The Central Board of Directors of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), through special relief contributions, will donate $50,000…

]]>NEW YORK — The Central Board of Directors of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), through special relief contributions, will donate $50,000 to the American Red Cross in support of Hurricane Harvey Emergency Relief.

As part of its longstanding commitment to humanitarian aid, AGBU has always responded to the plight of people impacted by conflict and natural disasters. Local chapters and Young Professionals groups also carry on this longstanding tradition mobilizing to address local needs during times of crisis.

Natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey create more needs than any single organization can meet on its own. The American Red Cross is collaborating with communities, government agencies, non-profits and businesses to help fund and coordinate emergency relief efforts. We encourage our members and supporters worldwide to continue to donate to organizations that are providing relief efforts.

The American Red Cross is working along the Gulf Coast to rescue people, evacuate homes and provide emergency supplies, food, water, shelter, counseling and other assistance. Approximately 42,000 people sought refuge in 258 Red Cross and partner shelters across Texas while some 2,000 disaster workers are on the ground.

The Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America is advocating to help provide relief to the people of the St. Kevork Church community, as many Armenian families are now displaced. Please visit https://armenianchurch.us/donate/ to support the Diocese’s relief efforts by donating to the St. Kevork Flood Relief.

To donate to the American Red Cross, please visit https://www.redcross.org

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287252017-09-06T20:00:38Z2017-09-06T20:00:38ZWORCESTER — Clark University history professor Taner Akcam will be honored with the 2018 Outstanding Upstander Award from the World Without Genocide…

]]>WORCESTER — Clark University history professor Taner Akcam will be honored with the 2018 Outstanding Upstander Award from the World Without Genocide organization for his work promoting justice and the rule of law. He will formally receive the award at the organization’s annual gala in May of 2018 in Minneapolis.

Akçam is one of the first Turkish intellectuals to acknowledge and openly discuss the Armenian Genocide, He holds the only endowed chair dedicated to research and teaching on this subject.

Akcam is an outspoken advocate of democracy and free expression since his student days at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, he is an internationally recognized human rights activist.

World Without Genocide works “to protect innocent people around the world; prevent genocide by combating racism and prejudice; advocate for the prosecution of perpetrators, and remember those whose lives and cultures have been destroyed by violence.”

Previous recipients of the World Without Genocide award include Eli Rosenbaum, Director of Human Rights Enforcement Strategy and Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice; Claudia Paz y Paz, former Attorney General of Guatemala; and Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo, a former prosecutor at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287212017-09-06T19:57:07Z2017-09-06T19:57:07ZPARIS (RFE/RL) — A French court began hearing a lawsuit by Azerbaijan’s government against two French journalists it accuses of defamation, in…

]]>PARIS (RFE/RL) — A French court began hearing a lawsuit by Azerbaijan’s government against two French journalists it accuses of defamation, in a case described by the defendants and media freedom activists as an attempt by Azerbaijani authorities to export censorship beyond the country’s borders.

The defendants in the lawsuit before a court in the Paris suburb of Nanterre are broadcast journalists Elise Lucet and Laurent Richard on September 5.

They are accused of defaming the Azerbaijani government by referring to it as a “dictatorship” two years ago, when then-French President Francois Hollande was visiting the Caspian Sea country.

It appears to be the first time that a foreign government has brought a defamation suit against journalists before a French court.

In an interview with RFE/RL ahead of the court session, Richard said “we do think that it is a dictatorship and not a land of tolerance as they are pretending.”

“I am not sure that’s a very good idea from them to sue some reporters because we are going to talk about the real, very critical things that are happening in Azerbaijan,” he added.

Richard also expressed concern about what he called the Azerbaijani government’s strategy “to export the kind of censorship abroad, on French soil.”

Introducing an investigation program about the background to Hollande’s trip on the France 2 television channel in September 2015, Lucet described Azerbaijan as “one of the world’s harshest dictatorships.”

In an interview with France Info radio, Richard referred to Azerbaijan as a “dictatorship.”

Richard and his cameraman were briefly detained in Baku at the end of their reporting trip in May 2014 and their equipment was seized.

Johann Bihr, head of Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, testified in defense of the two French journalists on September 5, along with Azerbaijani journalist Aqil Xalil and human rights activists Leyla and Arif Yunus.

Xalil, a reporter for the opposition Azadliq newspaper, fled to France in 2008 after a series of attacks on him.

Leyla and Arif Yunus left for the Netherlands in 2016 after being convicted of economic crimes and imprisoned for 18 months following a trial that the couple and international human rights groups denounced as a travesty of justice.

RSF says it regards the lawsuit as “an act of intimidation highlighting the Azerbaijani government’s contempt for free speech.”

“Not content with eradicating all pluralism at home, the regime is now targeting its critics abroad,” the Paris-based media watchdog said in a September 4 statement.

“By suing two French journalists who just used their right to free speech, the Azerbaijani government is demonstrating its complete inability to tolerate criticism,” RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said. “We must not let Baku export its censorship to France.”

RSF says it appears this is the first time that a foreign government has brought a defamation suit against journalists before a French court.

Azerbaijan is ranked 162nd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2017 World Press Freedom Index. For the past three years, the watchdog says, the country’s authorities have “systematically eliminated what remained of media independence.”

The Turan news agency, Azerbaijan’s last independent media outlet, in August became the latest victim of the government’s crackdown on the media.

The authorities ordered its director, Mehman Aliyev, to be sent to nearly three months of detention pending trial on tax-evasion and abuse-of-powers charges. Its bank accounts have been frozen, forcing it to suspend all activities.

On August 26, the U.S. State Department urged Aliyev’s immediate release and said the actions of the Azerbaijani government “to curtail freedom of press and to further restrict freedom of expression are the latest in a negative trend that includes the government’s May decision to block access to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other independent media websites.”

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev — who has ruled the oil-producing South Caucasus country of nearly 10 million people since shortly before the death of his father, Heydar Aliyev, in 2003 — is on RSF’s list of press-freedom predators.

RSF says that at least 16 journalists, bloggers, and media workers are “currently imprisoned in connection with the provision of news and information — usually on trumped-up charges.”

Dozens of journalists have fled the country in recent years to escape the crackdown, according to the watchdog.

]]>SPA, BELGIUM – Armenian Lebanese race car driver Alex Demirdjian has won 3rd place at the world-famous Total 24 Hours of Spa race in Belgium, which is part of the Blancpain GT Series. 64 cars began the race at the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit but only 35 finished the challenging feat. Demirdjian and his Ferrari AF Corse teammates Nicolas Minassian, Davide Rizzo, and Toni Vilander came in 3rd place, a major achievement in the racing world and a great source of pride for the Armenian community.

“It was important for me to race for the Armenian people,” said Alex Demirdjian. “This race was about remembering our past but also letting the world know that we are present and our future is strong.”

The Total 24 Hours of Spa race is widely recognized as one of the most difficult races across the globe, due both to the continuous 24 hours of driving and the challenging weather conditions characteristic of the region. Demirdjian recognized the race as an important opportunity to represent both the Armenian and Lebanese communities, honoring the history of his people and creating hope for their future.

The Ferrari 488 GT3 that Demirdjian raced in proudly displayed the red, blue, and orange colors of the Armenian flag with the words “Drive for Life” just below. The front of the racecar displayed the Lebanese flag with the country’s national Cedar tree leading the way.

“It was a wonderful feeling to cross the Armenian and Lebanese flags across the finish line,” said Demirdjian. “This achievement really goes to show that teamwork is more important than any individual endeavor, and I hope future generations will be inspired to work together in pursuit of their ambitions while honoring their history.”

Prior to this event, Demirdjian raced in the Blancpain GT Endurance Race in Monza, Italy where he won 1st place with his Ferrari AF Corse teammates Davide Rizzo and Abbie Eaton.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287122017-09-06T05:22:34Z2017-09-06T05:22:34ZBy Matthew Kredell The USC Price School of Public Policy is pursuing a plan to establish a special doctoral program in public…

The USC Price School of Public Policy is pursuing a plan to establish a special doctoral program in public policy and management in Armenia, designed to build the academic infrastructure to address the significant public management needs of this growing country and region.

While Armenia has a growing need for trained public policy and management professionals, it currently does not have a Ph.D. program at any of its universities that can provide training to meet this particular need. The USC Price Armenian Scholars program would begin with awarding one student from Armenia a full scholarship to enroll in the Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management program at the Price School in 2019. Scholarship recipients must make a commitment to return to Armenia to teach, research and train.

When the student completes the five-year degree, USC Price will make a separate investment for an Armenian university to hire the recent graduate to design a doctoral program.

Each year for five years, USC Price will continue enrolling an Armenian scholar, providing comprehensive support – including tuition, health insurance, housing, books, food and transportation – to grow the faculty until a five-member department is ready to sustainably prepare a new generation of policy thinkers and public management scholars in Armenia.

The plan was developed by USC Price Professor Frank Zerunyan, who is of Armenian descent.

“The future of the Armenian democracy rests on the shoulders of young leaders, academics, who are committed to the practice of teaching and rigor of research necessary to ensure that Armenia continues to develop into an independent market economy promoting good governance,” Zerunyan said.

Zerunyan secured support from Dean Jack H. Knott, along with all necessary faculty approvals, to found the Armenian Scholars program, building upon USC Price’s successful history in global education. The last step to establishing the program is raising an initial endowment of $3 million.

Expanding educational impact in Armenia
Each of the past four summers, Zerunyan has traveled to Armenia, where he teaches a one-week executive course on public administration to Armenian officials at the American University of Armenia (AUA) in the capital city of Yerevan. He is also a visiting professor at the Yerevan State University and the Public Administration Academy of the Republic of Armenia, where he also serves on the editorial council for its public administration scientific journal.

The class at AUA is especially popular with Armenia’s defense ministry, which filled 25 of the 60 seats this past summer.

Defense ministry officials and high-ranking officers associated with the educational mission of the Armenian Army found the course both relevant valuable — and as a result, they asked Zerunyan to guest lecture at the Vasgen Sargsyan Military University, with the condition that he add an extensive course to be taught at the Vasgen Sargsyan Military University and the Air Force University next summer.

To teach at those universities, he was awarded the honorary title of colonel instructor along with the corresponding Armenian Army uniform. He plans to wear this uniform at USC on Sept. 21 to honor his colleagues in Armenia to celebrate Armenia’s Independence Day.

“I’m very proud of my Armenian heritage, so it’s a great honor to be given this uniform,” Zerunyan said. “It’s a very unique position to be in as an Armenian-American. It also illustrates that USC Price’s work in executive education for global leaders is being appreciated and recognized at the highest levels in Armenia.”

While in Armenia, Zerunyan also met with Vache Gabrielian, vice prime minister and minister of international economic integration and reforms, to discuss the USC Price Armenian Scholars program and the need for educational reforms in Armenia. Last summer Zerunyan had already met with the education minister of the Republic, Levon Mkrtchyan.

“USC is in a key geographic location, because Southern California is home to the largest population of Armenians outside of Armenia,” Zerunyan said. “So it’s very natural for us to participate in bringing our knowledge to Armenia and help this young republic advance public policy and management.”

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287082017-09-04T19:49:25Z2017-09-04T19:49:25ZTransparency International to campaign for accountability and action in Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany and United Kingdom LONDON — Transparency International, the global…

]]> Transparency International to campaign for accountability and action in Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany and United Kingdom

LONDON — Transparency International, the global anti-corruption organisation, is calling for politicians, banks and businesses that helped to launder the reputation of Azerbaijan across Europe to be investigated and, if appropriate, for the perpetrators to be sanctioned.

The anti-corruption organisation will launch national and international advocacy campaigns targeted at strengthening anti-money laundering practices, identifying individual wrong-doing and calling for international organisations, including the Council of Europe, to investigate allegations of inappropriate behaviour and take corrective action.

This follows an investigation carried out by journalists in six countries (Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, United Kingdom and United States) into a shady financial network that appears to have funnelled money from a US$2.9 billion Azeri slush fund to pay decision-makers and prominent individuals across Europe.

“It is shocking to see that some politicians at respected bodies like the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe are up for sale and are willing to turn a blind eye to corruption and human rights abuses for cash. They must be sanctioned and we will put pressure on the authorities to take action. The story does not end here,” said José Ugaz, Chair of Transparency International.

The investigation names, Danske Bank, a prominent bank in Denmark and specifically its branch in Estonia as the centre of the financial network. It also identifies four shell companies set up in the UK with secret offshore owners that received money from the slush fund. In addition, individuals and businesses are reported to have received payments from these companies in Germany and the UK.

The reports describe how politicians and consultants who received the money were in a position to influence decisions about Azerbaijan’s human rights record at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The purpose of the payments appears to have been to limit the effects of damaging information regarding human rights and election fraud that would have brought the country into greater disrepute.

“These investigations show that even in countries where corruption risks are considered low like Denmark, which ranks at the top of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, the regulatory bodies are still behind in enforce anti-money laundering legislation,” added Ugaz.

Transparency International, as part of a partnership with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project that broke the story, will pressure the appropriate authorities to ensure that any wrongdoing is both investigated and punished, and that regulatory loopholes are closed.

As first steps, Transparency International will:
-Present evidence to the special corruption investigative group at PACE on 7 September and ask for a full, transparent investigation
-Provide a dossier relating to the investigation with the US authorities since the International Bank of Azerbaijan is based in the United States.

The slush fund also supported the lavish lifestyles of the ruling family of Azerbaijan and a crony network of accomplices, including business leaders and politicians both in Germany and elsewhere. The investigations uncovered that the money was used to buy a football club, jewellery and major real estate in the Czech Republic.

Transparency International will also:
-Call on the authorities in the Czech Republic, Denmark and Germany to investigate the role of shell companies with secret ownership and push for public registers of beneficial ownership
-Call on the authorities in those countries to tighten and implement anti-money laundering procedures
-Call for full investigations into those receiving “dirty money” at the international, regional and national levels
-Ask citizens across Europe to write to their parliamentarians who attend the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to adopt stronger integrity standards in light of serious allegations of corruption and manipulation.

The investigation and the follow-up advocacy are part of The Global Anti-Corruption Consortium (GACC), a new initiative that links journalists and activists. For more information on the project click here.

The Council of Europe is the leading forum in Europe tasked with monitoring human rights, democracy and the rule of law in its 47 member.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=287032017-09-05T02:23:38Z2017-09-04T15:40:18ZBELMONT, MA — On Friday, October 13, at 7:30 p.m., the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and the Near…

]]>BELMONT, MA — On Friday, October 13, at 7:30 p.m., the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and the Near East Foundation (NEF) will present the Boston-area public premiere of the documentary film They Shall Not Perish: The Story of Near East Relief, at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum (formerly National Heritage Museum), 33 Marrett Road, in Lexington, MA (at the intersection of Route 2A and Massachusetts Avenue). A post-film discussion will feature NEF Board Director and executive-producer of the film, Shant Mardirossian, with a panel of scholars. The program is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception.

Produced by NEF Board Member Shant Mardirossian and award-winning director George Billard, the documentary They Shall Not Perish details the unprecedented humanitarian efforts of thousands of Americans who saved a generation of orphans and refugees during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and in the aftermath of the crisis that came to be known as the Armenian Genocide. The film teaches us the amazing role ordinary citizens can play in responding to humanitarian crises.

Following the screening, Marc Mamigonian, NAASR Director of Academic Affairs, will moderate a panel discussion with Shant Mardirossian and scholars Dr. Taner Akçam, Kaloosdian-Mugar Professor of Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark University; Dr. Hayk Demoyan, Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan, Armenia; and Dr. Nora Nercessian, author of the study City of Orphans: Relief Workers, Commissars and the Builders of the New Armenia Alexandropol/Leninakan 1919-1931.

The one-hour documentary film features the stories of American diplomats, missionaries and relief workers who, as witnesses to the Armenian Genocide, responded to a call to action and mobilized the largest non-governmental international humanitarian movement undertaken by American citizens.

Narrated by six-time Emmy award nominated actor Victor Garber, the film is set against a mix of historical footage, archival photographs and utilizes contemporary interviews from leading academic experts such as Taner Akçam, Peter Balakian, Keith David Watenpaugh, and the late Martin Deranian. In addition, the letters of American officials, relief workers and orphans are brought to life through the voices of leading actors–Michael Aronov, Kathleen Chalfant, Dariush Kashani, Andrea Martin, Ron Rifkin, Tony Shalhoub and Kara Vedder–taking the audience on a journey from the depths of cruelty to the triumphs of survival.

Shant Mardirossian, inspired by his grandparents’ escape and survival during the genocide, says he produced this film “not just to remember those we lost in the genocide, but to shed light on an important chapter of American history when ordinary citizens stood together against a great injustice and saved the lives of 132,000 orphans.”

For additional information about this event, please contact NAASR at 617-489-1610 or hq@naasr.org.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286962017-09-04T15:34:27Z2017-09-04T15:34:27ZBy Sona Zeitlian AGBU Hye Geen organized a most original debate about a cultural question which has divided different age-groups. The perennial…

AGBU Hye Geen organized a most original debate about a cultural question which has divided different age-groups. The perennial question is whether “amote” is meant to shame by seeking the preservation of traditional values, or whether as a right, it must yield to the trends of our times. After all, we now live “in a culture that teaches us to promote and advertize ourselves and to master the skills required for success.”

The challenge of “amote” had intrigued a large group gathered at the newly renovated AGBU Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Center in Pasadena, on Saturday August 19, 2017.

After the welcoming remarks of AGBU Hye Geen Committee member Silva Kardjian, well-known actress and playwright Lory Tatoulian presented an entertaining song and dance sketch. Performing in the theater since she was 8-years old, Lory is recognized for her contributions to the Armenian-American theater and was awarded a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. Touching upon the challenge of “amote,” she addressed light-hearted instances of “amote” to the attendees of different ages and warned them about the consequences of gossiping, which travels with the speed of lightning. She also advised them to be cautious when “picking an odar” as a companion.

After the pleasant interlude, the guest speakers took up the challenge of “amote.” Armenia-born Armenui (Amy) Ashvanian, a distinguished prosecutor also teaching at Glendale University College of Law, was recently selected to participate in the U.S. State Department’s Overseas Prosecution Department Assistance and Training Program, and traveled to Armenia for the introduction of reforms in the criminal justice system.

Presenting “The Benefits of Amote,” the speaker referred to the responsibility of preserving Armenian traditions and stated that “amote” is a component of culture, which connects people, transmits enduring moral values and reinforces our national identity. She also warned that excessive use or abuse of “amote” causes undue confusion, humiliation and resentment. However, in times of rapid social change and uncertainty, “amote” is a useful tool of moral guidance for parents, provided it assures equal treatment of sons and daughters. Then she dwelt on discriminatory practices prevalent in authoritarian societies, where “amote” arouses feelings of distress. In this sense, Armenian patriarchal households should beware of “amote” for fear of rendering girls too submissive and robbing them of their self-confidence, self-respect and honest self-confrontation. Finally, she cautioned that “amote” should adapt to living conditions and national needs. She also warned that in oppressive atmospheres, “amote” is internalized and domestic violence prevails to the detriment of the social fabric.

The first speaker’s thoughtful presentation was followed by another with a different perspective. Armenia-born Angela Barseghian, an attorney in private practice took the stand that “ “Amote” Restricts Personal Achievements.”

She began with a bold statement about the validity of “amote” as a means of preserving traditions and enriching Armenian life. Instead, she denounced it as a means of enslaving people and controling women. She was critical of church teachings and overlooked the role of the Church as the only institution that had unified and sustained Armenians throughout much of their turbulent history. She was also critical of the post Soviet Armenian state, accusing it of protecting special interests, instead of empowering the people and promoting their civil rights. Bluntly renouncing conformity to the tenets of religious and secular national institutions, as well as the traditional strictures of “amote,” she concluded that instead of being guided by shared values, free speech should be encouraged, personal needs should take precedence, and that we should be motivated by conscious personal choices.

Angela Barseghian’s failure to acknowledge the function of national institutions and a whole system of human values necessary for insuring stability and for building character raised many questions and energized a lengthy exchange of opinions.

AGBU Hye Geen’s trendsetting event created great interest. The challenge of “amote” was taken up by an appreciative audience and the debate continued…

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286912017-09-01T05:41:58Z2017-09-01T05:41:58ZYEREVAN — The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative has announced a new annual scholarship for Yazidi students, established in partnership with renowned Yazidi human…

]]>YEREVAN — The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative has announced a new annual scholarship for Yazidi students, established in partnership with renowned Yazidi human rights activist Lamya Haji Bashar.

It is the latest addition to the Gratitude Scholarship Program, a $ 7 million initiative established in gratitude to the people from countries who offered shelter and food to those displaced by the Armenian Genocide more than a century ago.

The first beneficiary of the ‘Lamya Haji Bashar Scholarship’ is Aido Khiro Omar, a 18-year-old student from Mosul, Iraq, a city ravaged by violence since 2014. Aido was selected for his academic excellence and ambition to create education opportunities for orphans in Iraq, for whom access to life-enriching learning has been disrupted.

The ‘Lamya Haji Bashar Scholarship’ will be awarded annually in recognition of Lamya’s fight for survival from sexual enslavement by the Islamic State in 2014. Following many failed attempts, Lamya eventually escaped enslavement in 2016 only to be caught in a landmine explosion that left her with extensive injuries. Today, Lamya remains dedicated to her work as a public advocate in Germany, raising awareness for the plight of the Yazidi community around the globe.

“Lamya is a role model for all of us, especially for young people fighting for social justice around the world. She is a shining example of the integrity and dedication that the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative strives to recognize and inspire in young leaders.” said Ruben Vardanyan, co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and the United World College (UWC) in Dilijan. “As UWC Dilijan strives to bring together aspiring young leaders from around the world, the ‘Lamya Haji Bashar Scholarship’ reminds our students that education can be a force for peace,” Vardanyan added.

“This scholarship is the opportunity of a lifetime for young people from my community. I am grateful to the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative for opening the door to a global education that will be transformative for these students who have suffered and overcome profound obstacles,” said Lamya Haji Bashar.

Aido will study in the two-year International Baccalaureate program on a full scholarship that includes tuition, accommodation and expenses at UWC Dilijan in Armenia, an international boarding school that hosts students from 82 countries. “Through an experiential learning curriculum that taps energy and idealism, Aido will be provided a platform both to educate his peers on Yazidi culture, ensuring its rich history is not forgotten, and to put gratitude into action so that he may make his dreams a reality for the orphans of Iraq,” said Denise Davidson, Head of UWC Dilijan.

Aido will join 10 other young beneficiaries of the 2017 Gratitude Scholarship Program, each of whom has been chosen for their academic potential and social engagement. Together, the 11 students come from Syria, Lebanon, Palestinian Camps in Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Greece, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Iraq. Each is either a refugee or displaced, living in extreme poverty, or living with the loss of a parent or guardian. The scholars will begin their studies in September at one of the 17 UWC schools and colleges around the world.

The Gratitude Scholarship Program is a joint undertaking of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and the Near East Foundation. Over the course of the program, 100 promising students from countries affected by conflict, displacement and poverty will benefit from the opportunity to study at one of the 17 UWC schools and colleges based on four different continents. To-date, 21 young scholars have begun their studies in the UWC College network with support from the Gratitude Scholarship Program.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286872017-09-01T05:38:57Z2017-09-01T05:38:57ZYEREVAN — The OSCE has closed its Office in Yerevan on Thursday. The Organization opened its field presence in Armenia in 2000.…

The Organization opened its field presence in Armenia in 2000. During the years of its operation, the OSCE Office in Yerevan and its dedicated staff promoted the implementation of OSCE principles and commitments, conducted successful operations and implemented valuable projects in all three OSCE dimensions of security – the politico-military, the economic and environmental and the human dimension.

The OSCE’s activities in the country included, among others, assistance with police reforms, promoting environmentally-sound natural resources management, support for streamlining the national regulatory frameworks affecting business activity, and support to formulation and implementation of reforms affecting the justice system and electoral management.

The closure of the OSCE Office in Yerevan follows months of negotiations and extensive efforts by the 2016 German OSCE Chairmanship and the 2017 Austrian OSCE Chairmanship to reach consensus among OSCE participating States on the extension of the Office’s mandate.

The Organization will seek to continue its engagement with Armenia in line with existing OSCE commitments.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286832017-09-01T05:25:25Z2017-09-01T05:25:25ZA Turkish-born German writer facing extradition from Spain to Turkey, which accuses him of “terrorism”, on Wednesday urged Madrid not to send…

]]>A Turkish-born German writer facing extradition from Spain to Turkey, which accuses him of “terrorism”, on Wednesday urged Madrid not to send him to a country that is “slipping towards fascism,” the Digital Journalreports.

Dogan Akhanli, who has lived in Germany since 1991, was arrested August 19 while on holiday in Granada in southern Spain, on the basis of an Interpol “red notice” from Turkey, in a case that has further strained German-Turkish relations.

Berlin protested and a Madrid court freed Akhanli on August 20 but ordered him to stay in Spain and report to the authorities weekly, while Turkey has 40 days to send a formal extradition request.

“How can they consider deporting me to Turkey, a country that is slipping towards fascism, when Spaniards themselves must have learned from history what this means for mankind,” he said at a Madrid news conference, referring to Franco dictatorship in Spain from 1939 to 1975.

Germany has dismissed the case against Akhanli as politically motivated, and Chancellor Angela Merkel warned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government not to “misuse” Interpol to pursue its critics.

Akhanli said he believed Turkey ordered his arrest because “I express myself out loud, and because I write books about the Armenian genocide and the rights of the Kurds”, Turkey’s largest ethnic minority group.

Akhanli grew up in Istanbul, and was jailed from 1985 to 1987 in the aftermath of a military coup.

He emigrated to Germany in 1991, where he was granted political asylum, and in 2001 he became a German citizen.

On a return trip to Turkey in 2010 Akhanli was again arrested, accused of heading a terrorist organisation and having taken part in a deadly 1989 robbery.

After several months in detention, a court cleared him and he left Turkey, but the ruling was overturned in 2013.

Akhanli argues that the accusations against him are made up.

Any country can issue an Interpol “red notice”, roughly equivalent to an international arrest warrant, but extradition by Spain would follow only if Ankara can convince Spanish courts it has a solid case against him.

]]>FRESNO — Subsequent to last fall’s Inaugural Banquet of Heritage Fresno’s Armenian Cultural Conservancy (ACC), a series of monthly programs (speakers, panel discussions, and movie nights) were presented to the community in keeping to its mission.

On Saturday, September 23, 2017, ACC’s Second Annual Banquet will be held in the scenic west Quad of the historic Old Administration Building of Fresno City College: Social Hour, 5 PM and Dinner, 6 PM.

Keynote remarks will be delivered by Lena Maranian Adishian, the Founder of The 100 Years, 100 Facts Project. Lena holds dual degrees in Economics and Psychology, as well as an M.B.A.

Michael Retting, the Editor of CSUF’s Hye Sharzhoom newspaper, will serve as emcee for the evening. Michael, a graduate student of History at California State University, Fresno, is a descendent of survivors of the Armenian Genocide.

The ACC’s mission is “to collect, preserve and interpret the evidence of the Armenian experience in Central California in an enduring institution of learning.” At last year’s Inaugural Banquet, Dr. Matthew Ari Jendian stated, “We need a place where we can grow roots, an institute that will preserve our heritage to benefit our Armenian Community and the broader community.”

We welcome your support for the mission of Fresno’s Armenian Cultural Conservancy with your contribution and/or attendance at the banquet. Please R.S.V.P. for dinner reservations ($50.00 per person, college students with I.D. $25): Armenian Cultural Conservancy, 2930 N. West Avenue, Fresno, CA 93704. For further information, call 559-226-1984.

Heritage Fresno and the Foreign Language Department of Fresno City College are supporters of this project. ACC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, community benefit organization.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286402017-09-01T05:01:49Z2017-09-01T05:01:49ZSAN DIEGO, CA – The organizing committee of the 5th Bridge to the Future Gala is pleased to announce that Her Excellency…

]]>SAN DIEGO, CA – The organizing committee of the 5th Bridge to the Future Gala is pleased to announce that Her Excellency Nina Hachigian will be the Guest of Honor at the event on September 30, 2017. The gala is taking place at the picturesque Sheraton Hotel & Marina Bay Tower. The theme, “Carnival in Venice,” sets the stage for an evening inspired by romantic Italy. The purpose of the event is to raise funds to construct a state-of-the-art church campus near Del Mar that will become the new spiritual and cultural home for the Armenian community of San Diego, as well as a destination for Armenians worldwide.

Ms. Hachigian served as the second U.S. Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from 2014-2017. During her tenure, the United States established a strategic partnership with ASEAN, held the first Leaders’ Summit in the United States, launched a Presidential initiative on economic cooperation and grew the youth program to over 100,000 members. She also was a founder of WASA, Women Ambassadors Serving America. She was awarded the Meritorious Honor Award for her Ambassadorial service.

Prior to that, Ms. Hachigian was a Senior Fellow and a Senior Vice President at the Center for American Progress focused on Asia policy, was the co-director of Asia policy for the Obama campaign, and was the director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy. In early August, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed her as deputy mayor for the newly created Mayor’s Office of International Affairs. Her late father, Dr. Jack Hachigian, lived in San Diego for many years and was a founding member of the Trust Fund Committee of St. John Garabed Armenian Church.

Dan Cohen, co-anchor of CBS News 8 This Morning and CBS News 8 at 11 a.m., will be the Master of Ceremonies and Auctioneer. Dan has been honored with three Emmy Awards for his exceptional journalism and is beloved throughout San Diego. It’s Dan’s second year hosting this event. He is a close friend of San Diego’s Armenian community and a passionate supporter of the new church campus.

Notable chefs and restauranteurs from around San Diego will be serving some of their signature dishes as appetizers in stations during the cocktail reception. Guests will also be treated to a gourmet dinner with fine wines, live auction, entertainment by NRG Music & Production, celebrity guest vocalist, Monica Louwerens, $10,000 raffle prize, and more.

The Trust Fund Committee is organizing the event under the auspices of Parish Priest Very Rev. Fr. Pakrad Berjekian. The goal is to raise $150,000 to begin the construction of a new church campus near Del Mar, California. Table sponsorships are available for $10,000, $5,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, with generous donor benefits for each level. Individual tickets are $250 per person. A portion of the ticket price is tax-deductible.

To order tickets online or receive updates, visit www.stjohngarabed.org. Also look for “Bridge to the Future” on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BridgetotheFutureSD/ or @BridgetotheFutureSD. A special hotel room rate of $169 is available until 9/1/17 at the Sheraton Hotel and Marina Bay Tower. For reservations, call (619) 291-2900 and reference “Armenian Church of San Diego.” For more information about Gala 2017, call (619) 884-8983.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286462017-09-01T04:56:11Z2017-09-01T04:56:11ZBOSTON — The Knights of Vartan’s 99th Annual Grand Convocation welcomed 200 members and their families, as well as hundreds of Armenian…

]]>BOSTON — The Knights of Vartan’s 99th Annual Grand Convocation welcomed 200 members and their families, as well as hundreds of Armenian community members, from August 8-13, 2017 for a series of innovative workshops, meetings, tours and evening events. The Boston chapters of the Knights and Daughters of Vartan, Ararat Lodge and Arpie Otyag, hosted the Convocation in celebration of the Ararat Lodge’s 100th Anniversary.

The Convocation events included a city tour of Boston’s Armenian Heritage Park and historic Armenian institutions, an Armenian Art Show, a Surf and Turf event at Holy Trinity Armenian Church, the 100th Anniversary Dinner Dance with Ellie Berberian and the Sayat Nova Dance Company, and the formal Grand Banquet to culminate the week’s events. Proceeds from the Art Show and 100th Anniversary Dinner Dance (attended by 400 people) went to support the new Hye Pointe Armenian Church in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

Outgoing Grand Commander Steven Kradjian presided at the Grand Convocation and the August 11-12 business meetings, which accomplished many charitable and educational objectives. The Knights and Daughters of Vartan allocated financial support for certain key charitable initiatives: the Christian Cana Center in Armenia, the Mekhitarist Fathers in Venice, the Holy Sepulcher Renovation (Save the Tomb) in Jerusalem, the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia NGO, the Armenian Charitable Lighthouse Foundation, scholarships for Armenian American Students, and scholarships for Students in Armenia to attend the American University of Armenia. In addition, the following projects will continue to be funded: Partnership with CASP (Children of Armenia Sponsorship Program) to benefit needy children in Tavush; the Armenian Schools Support Project in Armenia in partnership with the World Bank; grants from the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies; and the Annual Times Square Armenian Genocide Commemoration in New York.

This Grand Convocation saw the culmination of the successful tenures of Knights of Vartan Grand Commander, Steven Kradjian of San Diego, California, who served for three years and Daughters of Vartan Grand Matron Sona Manuelian of New Jersey, who served for two years, spanning the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, the Centennial of the Knights of Vartan and the opening of the Communications Office in Yerevan. Outgoing Grand Commander Steven Kradjian commented, “One hundred years after our organization was established in the USA to help lead the recovery of our people who suffered and perished in the Armenian Genocide, the Knights of Vartan has returned to the Homeland, strong and determined, establishing the Communications Office as our permanent presence in Armenia, to help strengthen our mission partnerships and better serve the Armenian people.”

Established in 2016, the Knights of Vartan Office of Communications this year was fully staffed upon the July 2017 hiring of Liaison Gohar Palyan of Yerevan who heads the Communications Office in Yerevan. She brings over 17 years of experience in local and international non-profit organizations (Habitat for Humanity, Fuller Center for Housing Armenia), holds an MBA, and is committed to Knights of Vartan mission and charity work in Armenia. She made an appearance at the Knights annual meeting by live Skype broadcast from Armenia. Outgoing Grand Commander Steven Kradjian was appointed to oversee the Knights of Vartan Communications Office in Yerevan, to provide guidance and support.

The Grand Convocation is also the time when the Knights and Daughters of Vartan recognize fellow Armenians for their exceptional work. Outgoing Grand Commander Steve Kradjian and outgoing Grand Matron Sona Manuelian and their officers presented special recognition awards for select members who have distinguished themselves through service, including district representatives, lodge merit awards, individual key contributor awards, and the delegates and leaders of the first official Knights and Daughters of Vartan business meeting held in Armenia on September 20, 2016.

Most notably, this year’s the Knights of Vartan Man of the Year Award was presented to Mr. Nazar Nazarian and the Daughters of Vartan Woman of the Year Award was presented to Dr. Laura Korkoian.

Among the most generous benefactors of the Armenian Community for decades, including many Knights of Vartan Times Square Armenian Genocide Commemorations, Mr. Nazarian and his dear wife Mrs. Artemis Nazarian are heroes of the Armenian community. Outgoing Knights of Vartan Grand Commander Steven Kradjian commented, “Mr. Nazarian’s personal example of leadership, dedication and support for the Armenian People are an inspiration to service and leadership for all of us. The reach and impact of his benevolence continues to improve the lives and opportunities generations of Armenians. We are honored to call Mr. Nazarian a Modern Man of Vartanantz.”

This year’s Woman of the Year Award recipient, Dr. Laura Korkoian, is an Emmy-winning executive producer and director of A&E’s hit series, Born This Way. This groundbreaking series depict the lives of seven young adults, born with Down Syndrome, as they pursue their passions and live their lives, while defying society’s expectations. Dr. Laura Korkoian’s reality television credits include MTV’s The Real World, The Emmy-Winning series Starting Over, The Bad Girls Club, America’s Next Top Model and The Simple Life, among many others. Outgoing Grand Matron Sona Manuelian noted Laura’s inspiring example to help all of us see individuals with Down Syndrome in a new light, as human beings with the same desires and needs as anyone else.

Looking forward, the 2017 Grand Convocation saw the election and installation of the incoming Grand Commander of the Knights of Vartan, Dr. Gary Zamanigian of Detroit, Michigan, and Grand Matron of the Daughters of Vartan, Ms. Diana Tookmanian of Pasadena, California.

The Incoming Grand Matron, Diana Tookmanian was born in Pasadena to a strong Armenian family and heritage. She grew up in the Armenian Cilicia Evangelical Church, Pasadena, where she has held numerous board positions and is presently the Vice-Moderator, President of the Dorcas Guild, and Board member of the Ladies Auxiliary. Grand Matron Diana graduated from Pasadena City College with an Associate of Arts Degree and from California State University of Los Angeles with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Home Economics and also has a California State Brokers License. She joined the Daughters of Vartan, Varteni Otyag, Pasadena, in 1990. She has held many positions and was Matron in 2001-2003 and 2011-2013. She has volunteered in a leadership capacity at numerous nonprofit organizations in the Los Angeles area.

Incoming Grand Commander Dr. Gary Zamanigian was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Wayne State University earning his BA then M. Ed. Dr. Zamanigian received his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from Kansas City University. He was the President of Michigan Osteopathic Association during 2001-2002 and was appointed to the Michigan Public Health Advisory Council by Michigan Governor James Blanchard for four years. Dr. Zamanigian volunteered in number of organizations and held leadership positions including St. John Armenian Church, Southfield, Apostolic Society Member; Eastern Diocese Delegate; Chairman of AGBU Detroit Men’s Chapter, member of AGBU Midwest District Committee and Central Committee of America. He joined Knights of Vartan in 1970 in Detroit, Nareg Lodge #32, then Nareg-Shavarshan Lodge #6, serving as Commander (1982-1983) and Grand Lt. Commander (1989-1990, 1997-1998).

During his speech at the Grand Convocation, Dr. Gary Zamanigian said “As Grand Commander of the Knights of Vartan, I will continue and expand where possible projects which help to enrich the lives of Armenians in Armenia. Furthermore, I wish to recruit into the Knights of Vartan young qualified Armenian professionals to continue our service to the Armenian Nation.”

The Knights of Vartan Inc. is a fraternal leadership and service organization of Armenian men dedicated to safeguarding and perpetuating the Armenian heritage and cultural traditions. Its membership represents the spectrum of the leadership of the Armenian community. It was founded in 1916 in Philadelphia and is based the United States with 25 local chapters which support Armenian causes around the world.

The Daughters of Vartan is an Armenian Sisterhood associated with the Knights of Vartan. It was organized in 1933 in Philadelphia. The Daughters of Vartan is an organization of women whose members are committed to the intellectual, personal and leadership development of Armenian women and families around the world, while also promoting Armenian heritage and Christian values through its 19 chapters across the US.

For more information about the Knights and Daughters of Vartan, visit http://kofv.org.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286492017-08-31T21:46:34Z2017-08-31T21:46:34ZSTEPANAKERT — Gagik Petrosyan, a soldier wounded in the aftermath of the Four Day War of April 2016, celebrated housewarming in Stepanakert,…

]]>STEPANAKERT — Gagik Petrosyan, a soldier wounded in the aftermath of the Four Day War of April 2016, celebrated housewarming in Stepanakert, the capital city of Artsakh on Wednesday. The house was renovated by the Tufenkian Foundation, in the framework of the Housing for Wounded Soldiers initiative. Tufenkian Foundation Executive Director Raffi Doudaklian and Board Members Antranig Kasbarian and Andre Gumuchdjian, Italian-Armenian writer Antonia Arslan, together with a group of Diaspora Armenians, as well as representatives of local media attended the housewarming.

Since 2003, the Tufenkian Foundation has implemented a number of projects and initiatives in support of Artsakh. In April 2016, in response to the Four Day War, the Foundation launched an urgent appeal to help the people affected by the war. Since then, with funds raised during this emergency appeals and through additional support from individual donors, the Foundation provided housing support to seven soldiers: three soldiers in Martakert, one in Askeran and one in Martuni.

While the initiative was launched with the aim of supporting soldiers injured in the Four Day War, it was later expanded to include soldiers with housing needs who have been injured in battle and are not able to able to repair their homes or purchase new ones. So far, houses have been renovated for two soldiers who fought and were wounded in the 90’s liberation war.

Gagik Petrosyan is the seventh soldier to receive a fully renovated house from the Tufenkian Foundation. Before being wounded, Mr. Petrosyan served in one of the frontline military bases in Artsakh and was heavily wounded during one of the battles following the Four Day War.

Now, Mr. Petrosyan, 38 years old, is married and has two daughters. Despite his severe disability, Mr. Petrosyan, a captain by rank, continues serving the Self Defence Forces of Artsakh as an intelligence officer. Before the house was renovated, for more than 10 years, the family lived in very poor housing conditions that were disadvantageous for the health and well-being of their children. While Mr. Petrosyan tried to carry out some renovation works, his disability prevented him from completing the improvements.

In his remarks during the housewarming ceremony, Tufenkian Foundation Executive Director Raffi Doudaklian said “These soldiers leave everything behind to serve our country and protect our borderlands. The least we can do is make sure that they have decent housing”.

As a result of the reconstruction works carried out by the Tufenkian Foundation during the past couple of months, the house is now fully renovated: in addition to general improvements, the roof has been repaired, windows and doors installed and new flooring has been constructed.

Although the 2016 emergency has ended, the housing need for Artsakh’s soldiers is ongoing. With many wounded/disabled soldiers requiring similar assistance, the Foundation will continue this work indefinitely.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286552017-08-31T18:57:40Z2017-08-31T18:57:40ZYEREVAN — The OSCE monitoring group was unable to conduct monitoring works on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border due to Azerbaijani gunfire in the…

]]>YEREVAN — The OSCE monitoring group was unable to conduct monitoring works on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border due to Azerbaijani gunfire in the direction of Armenia’s Chinari village in northern Tavush province, the Armenian Defense Ministry stated

The ministry spokesman, Artsrun Hovannisian, said that Azerbaijani forces opened fire towards officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe while they monitored the ceasefire regime along the two countries border. The OSCE officials travelled to that area on a regular monitoring mission. Several other OSCE observers were due to assess the situation at that section of the heavily militarized frontier from the Azerbaijani side.

“The Azerbaijani side fired at the monitoring team near the village of Chinari,” Hovannisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). “The monitoring team was unable to carry out its mission for a fairly long time.”

According to Hovannisian, the longtime chief of the mission, Andrzej Kasprzyk, was among the OSCE field observers who allegedly came under fire near Chinari.

Earlier Armenian foreign ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan tweeted on the matter: “Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire during OSCE monitoring on the state border with Armenia in Tavush province”.

The OSCE and, in particular, its special observer mission tasked with monitoring ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone issued no statements on the reported incident as of late afternoon.

]]>LOS ANGELES — On Saturday, September 23, poet Peter Balakian and novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen will grapple with the shifting place of humanities in a postmodern and possibly “post-book” world. Their conversation is a signature event at INNOVATE ARMENIA 2017—a day of discovery, insightful dialogue, music, food, wine and chess sponsored by USC’s Institute of Armenian Studies.

Balakian, a professor of humanities at Colgate University, won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for his volume, Ozone Journal. The title poem — organized in 54 short sections — drifts from memories of excavating the bones of Armenian genocide victims in the Syrian desert to a montage of other memories—the dissolution of a marriage, life as a single parent in Manhattan, and encounters with a cousin dying of AIDS.

Nguyen, a professor of English and American and ethnic studies at USC, won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for his debut novel, The Sympathizer. Set in 1975 at the fall of Saigon, the narrative takes the reader inside the mind of a South Vietnamese army officer secretly spying for the Viet Cong—an honorable man torn between his political convictions and personal loyalties. Nguyen is also the author of The Refugees where he gives voice to lives led between two worlds, the adopted homeland and the country of birth. “Viet’s fiction, beautifully written and sharp, is about refugees. All of them. About their (or, our) aspirations, desires, memories, guilt and a search for self-fulfillment of some kind,” said Ghazarian.

Now in its third year, Innovate Armenia explores what it means to be Armenian in the 21st century and celebrates the accomplishments of all innovators. The day’s events include back-to-back speakers in Bovard Auditorium, including a conversation with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius and his brother, Harvard Business Review editor-in-chief Adi Ignatius; and a presentation by Hovig Etyemezian, chief of the Mosul operation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

David Ignatius and Adi Ignatius will unpack the concept of “global Armenian identity” at INNOVATE ARMENIA 2017. Professor Don Miller of the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture will moderate the session, which takes place on the festival mainstage in USC’s Bovard Auditorium.

What does it mean to be Armenian in America? Is it possible to thrive with both identities, or must Armenian-Americans choose? The Ignatius brothers tackle these and other thorny issues in lively conversation at USC.

To some extent, the Ignatius brothers embody the topic they will dissect.

“I grew up with this black number—1915—as the only organizing fact of my Armenian identity,” said David Ignatius in a video interview recorded last May in Yerevan.

Younger brother Adi Ignatius described himself as “half-Armenian” in a 2009 interview.

Their mother is a descendent of Puritan minister Cotton Mather.

Their father is former Secretary of the Navy Paul Robert Ignatius, the highest-ranking Armenian-American military official in U.S. history. In April, a Navy destroyer was named after the 97-year-old World War II veteran, who held various pentagon positions in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. (The original Armenian family name was Ignatosian.)

David Ignatius detects a sea-change in current attitudes toward hybrid identity.

“I think it’s much easier now to have that hyphen,” he told Salpi Ghazarian, director of USC’s Institute of Armenian Studies and organizer of INNOVATE ARMENIA. “It once was a binary choice. People felt you had to jump into the melting pot and get melted.”

Fear of being accused of divided loyalty fueled that dynamic, he noted. “During the Cold War, Armenian Americans worried that if they celebrated Armenia, they were celebrating a Soviet republic—not their ethnic identity. That period, happily, is over.”

About the Speakers:
Viet Thanh Nguyen was born in Vietnam and grew up in America. The Sympathizer is his first novel. The Refugees is his second. His short stories have appeared in Best New American Voices, TriQuarterly, Narrative and the Chicago Tribune. His scholarly books include Race and Resistance (2002) and Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (2016).

Peter Balakian is the author of seven books of poems. His prose works include a memoir, Black Dog of Fate (1997); a history of the American response to the Armenian genocide, The Burning Tigris (2003); and Vise and Shadow (2015), a collection of essays on poetry, culture and art.

David Ignatius has been covering the Middle East and the CIA for more than 25 years. An associate editor and columnist for The Washington Post, he also co-hosts PostGlobal, an online discussion of international issues at Washingtonpost.com, with Fareed Zakaria. His twice-weekly column on global politics, economics and international affairs is syndicated worldwide. A graduate of Harvard College, he studied economics at King’s College, Cambridge before joining the Washington Monthly as an editor. He later moved to the Wall Street Journal as a political reporter and Middle East correspondent. In 1986, he went to work for the Washington Post as editor of the “Outlook” section and oversaw the paper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Ignatius is also a writer of suspense/espionage fiction. He has written nine novels, including Body of Lies, adapted to film by director Ridley Scott. His first book, Agents of Innocence, was described on the CIA website as “a novel but not fiction.” He is currently collaborating with composer Mohammed Fairouz on “The New Prince,” a political opera based on the teachings of Niccolo Machiavelli.

Adi Ignatius is editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review. He joined the magazine in 2009. Previously, he was deputy managing editor at TIME, responsible for special editions such as the Person of the Year series. He wrote the 2007 Person of the Year profile of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. During his 12 years with TIME, he covered business and international issues and served as editor of TIME Asia, based in Hong Kong. In 2008, he edited the New York Times bestseller, President Obama: The Path to the White House. Fluent in Russian and Chinese, Ignatius spent many years at the Wall Street Journal, serving as the newspaper’s bureau chief in Beijing, where his work was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and later in Moscow. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Haverford College.

About the Festival:
INNOVATE ARMENIA 2017—a day of discovery, technology, music, food, wine, chess and lively conversation—takes place Saturday, September 23, 10 am to 6 pm in Alumni Park and Bovard Hall on USC’s University Park Campus. Admission is free. All-day parking is $12 in USC parking structures.

]]>WASHINGTON, DC — A grand jury in the Washington, DC has issued indictments for 19 people, including 15 identified as Turkish security officials, for attacking protesters in May 2017.

The indictments, announced on Tuesday, charge the defendants with attacking peaceful demonstrators who were protesting against the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on May 17.

All 19 are charged with conspiracy to commit a crime of violence, a felony punishable by a statutory maximum of 15 years in prison. Several face additional charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

Sixteen of the defendants had already been charged on June 13; Tuesday’s indictment adds three new defendants, all Turkish security officials.

All but two of the 19 remain at large. Two Turkish-American businessmen were arrested in June for their roles in the daylight attack on protestors and face an initial court hearing on September 7.

Of the other 17, two are Canadians, and the rest are Turkish nationals.

Video of the protest showed security guards and some Erdogan supporters attacking a small group of protesters with their fists and feet.

Men in dark suits and others were recorded repeatedly kicking one woman as she lay curled up on a pavement. Another wrenched a woman’s neck and threw her to the ground. A man with a bullhorn was repeatedly kicked in the face.

After police officers struggled to protect the protesters and ordered the men in suits to retreat, several of the men dodged the officers and ran into the park to continue the attacks. In all, nine people were hurt.

On the day of the violence, police detained two members of Erdogan’s security detail but released them shortly afterwards. Two other men were arrested at the scene – one for aggravated assault and the other for assaulting a police officer.

American officials strongly criticised Turkey’s government and Erdogan’s security forces for the violence; the Department of State summoned Turkey’s US ambassador to complain. The Turkish Foreign Ministry then summoned the US ambassador to protest the treatment of the detained security guards.

Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, said in June that the charges “send a clear message that the United States does not tolerate individuals who use intimidation and violence to stifle freedom of speech and legitimate political expression”.

]]>TEL AVIV (RFE/RL) — Israel’s Defense Ministry has reportedly halted exports of “suicide” drones manufactured by an Israeli company that was accused earlier this month of using them against an Armenian army position at the request of Azerbaijan.

In a statement cited by the Newsru.co.il news service, the company, Aeronautics Defense Systems (ADS), said late on Monday that the ministry’s export control agency has at least temporarily banned it from delivering a batch of Orbiter 1K drones to a key foreign client. The statement said ADS was due to supply $20 million worth of such unmanned aircraft, capable of carrying special explosive payload, to the client in 2017-2018.

The ADS statement did not specify the buyer of the sophisticated weapon, saying only that Israel has close commercial ties with that country. It also attributed the ban to an ongoing inquiry conducted by the Israeli security agency.

The Israeli newspaper “Maariv” reported on August 13 that the agency launched an investigation after receiving a formal complaint stemming from ADS’s commercial dealings with the Azerbaijani government. It said ADS representatives traveled to Azerbaijan earlier this summer to finalize a contract for the sale of Orbiter drones to the Azerbaijani military.

The paper claimed that two Israeli drone operators working for the defense company rebuffed Azerbaijani officials’ demand to demonstrate the use of the deadly drone by hitting the Armenian position with it. But other, more senior ADS executives agreed to launch the deadly craft on the target, according to “Maariv.”

ADS denied the report, saying that “the operational action was carried out by the purchaser alone.”

According to Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army, the Azerbaijani military most recently attacked its frontline positions with a suicide drone on July 7. The commander of an army unit stationed in northeastern Karabakh said in early August that two of his soldiers were lightly wounded in the incident. No Armenian military hardware was damaged in that drone attack, he said.

The Azerbaijani army heavily used similar suicide drones manufactured by another Israeli company, Israel Aerospace Industries, during the April 2016 hostilities in Karabakh. Baku had received them as part of multimillion-dollar defense contracts signed with Israeli arms manufacturers.

The Israeli weapons sold to Azerbaijan have included not only various types of unmanned aircraft but also air-defense systems and anti-tank rockets.

Armenia has long expressed concern at the Israeli-Azerbaijani arms deals, saying that they undermine international efforts to end the Karabakh conflict. Still, its reaction to the “Maariv” report was rather cautious.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286282017-08-28T23:49:10Z2017-08-28T23:49:10ZLOS ANGELES – In 1967, a group of Armenian-Americans organized by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) were among…

]]>LOS ANGELES – In 1967, a group of Armenian-Americans organized by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) were among the first to travel to Historic Armenia to find traces of their roots the Turks had left behind. On Sunday, October 1, 2017, portions of J. Michael Hagopian’s documentary film of that landmark journey will be screened along with Ani Hovannisian-Kevorkian’s short documentary on the vanishing traces of Historic Armenia, shot nearly 50 years after Hagopian’s footage.

The October 1 program, “Forbidden Journeys,” will present segments of Hagopian’s 1967 film Historic Armenia and of Hovannisian-Kevorkian’s current documentary on the disappearing vestiges of Historic Armenia, followed by a panel that includes Marc A. Mamigonian, Director of Academic Affairs at NAASR, Dr. Carla Garapedian of the Armenian Film Foundation, Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian, Professor Emeritus of Modern Armenian and Near Eastern History at UCLA, and Hovannisian-Kevorkian. UCLA Professors S. Peter Cowe and Sebouh Aslanian will make opening and closing remarks.

“Forbidden Journeys” will be the first program in the J. Michael Hagopian Film Discovery Series jointly presented by the Armenian Film Foundation (AFF) and NAASR. It will focus on the pioneering legacy of J. Michael Hagopian – his impact as an advocate for Armenian Studies and as a filmmaker.

The 1967 trip was the first of NAASR’s “Armenian Heritage Tours.” The Armenian-Americans who set out on this journey were the earliest such group to travel to historic Western Armenia. For some, it was a trip back to the places of their birth. Among the travelers was Hagopian, NAASR’s first West Coast director and co-founder of the Armenian Film Foundation. Himself a native of Kharpert and a survivor of the Armenian Genocide, Hagopian shot film on this path-breaking trip, capturing in many cases for the first time post-Genocide images of the Western Armenian homeland. The film has not been screened for over three decades.

Fast forward to 2013 when Hovannisian-Kevorkian was traveling through Western Armenia and discovered a lone Scottish explorer/photographer who has spent 30 years quietly uncovering and documenting the vanishing traces of this lost world. Since then she has been filming with him, digging beneath the modern map, encountering stories and physical remnants and revealing the hidden map of Turkey’s forbidden past.

Co-sponsored by the Richard G. Hovannisian Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA, the Narekatsi Chair in Armenian Language and Literature at UCLA, and the Ararat-Eskijian Museum, the October 1 program will take place at 2:00 pm, at the James Bridges Theater, Melnitz Hall, UCLA. This program is free and open to the public. A reception will immediately follow the program. Parking is available in Lot 3, 215 Charles E. Young Drive North (at Hilgard Avenue). For more information about the program, contact NAASR at (617) 489-1610 or hq@naasr.org.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286222017-08-28T22:58:38Z2017-08-28T22:58:38ZFRESNO — The Armenian Studies Program will hold an international conference exploring the topic of “ Armenians, Greeks, and Kurds: A People’s…

]]>FRESNO — The Armenian Studies Program will hold an international conference exploring the topic of “ Armenians, Greeks, and Kurds: A People’s History of the Ottoman Empire ” to be held on Friday, September 22 and Saturday, September 23, 2017. The Conference will be held in the University Business Center (5245 N. Backer Ave.), A. Peters Auditorium, Room 191 on the Fresno State campus.

Ottoman history is often studied through the lens of Ottoman Turkish archives, sometime neglecting the important contribution of Armenian and other sources to the construction of that history. The invited scholars are innovators in this area utilizing Armenian and other archival sources for their papers. The Conference focuses on the pre-1915 Genocide period in the Ottoman Empire, with papers featuring micro-histories of various regions.

The Conference is co-sponsored by the College of Arts & Humanities and the Department of History at Fresno State. The Thomas A. Kouymjian Family Foundation, the Leon S. Peters Foundation, and the M. Victoria Kazan Fund for Armenian Studies are supporters of the Conference.

Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian will open the Conference at 7:30PM on Friday, September 22 in the University Business Center, Alice Peters Auditorium, Room 191, on the Fresno State campus. An hors d’oeuvres reception will take place from 6:30 to 7:30PM in the University Business Center Gallery, just prior to the Conference.

Following the opening address, the first session will open with three panelists: Owen Miller (Union University) “ The Colonization of the Mountains: Sasun, Zeytun and Dersim at the End of the Ottoman Empire”; David Gutman (Manhattanville College) “ The Sojourners of Harput (Kharpert): At the Intersection of the Local, the Imperial, and the Global”; and Ugur Z. Peçe (Harvard University) “ From Ballots to Barracks: The Conscription of non-Muslims at a Time of Parliamentary Politics in the Ottoman Empire, 1908-1912.”

The Conference will reconvene at 10:00AM on Saturday, September 23, with two sessions, the first chaired by Dr. Sergio La Porta, Berberian Professor of Armenian Studies at Fresno State. All Saturday sessions will take place in the University Business Center, Alice Peters Auditorium, Room 191.

Session I will feature presentations by Emre Can Daglioglu ( Clark University) “ Intra-Imperial Space and Anti-Armenian Violence in the Ottoman Empire: The Aghtamar Catholicos Khatchadur III and the 1895 Van Massacre”; Varak Ketsemanian (Princeton University) “ The Armenian Revolutionary Movement between Ideologies and Paradoxes: A Case Study of the Hunchakian Party Program (1890-1896)”; and Ümit Kurt (Harvard University) “The Breakdown of a Previously Peaceful Coexistence: The Aintab Armenian Massacres of 1895.”

Following a coffee break the Conference will conclude with two more papers: Nilay Özok-Gündogan (Florida State University) on “ Can One Save the Voices of the ‘Ordinary’ Kurds from ‘the Enormous Condescension of Posterity?’ Thoughts on Writing the Social History of the Kurds in the Ottoman Empire” and Janet Klein, (University of Akron) “ Armenian Minorityhood in Ottoman and Russian History and Historiography?”.

All sessions and the reception are free and open to the public.

Free parking is available on both Conference days in Fresno State Lots P5 and P6, near the University Business Center. Permits are not required.

For more information about the Conference please contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669, or visit our website at www.fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies. Follow us on Facebook @ArmenianStudiesFresnoState or on Twitter @armstudiesfs.

]]>BAKU — Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has summoned Portugal’s charge d’affaires over the visit of Portuguese parliamentarian Rubina Berardo to the Nagorno-Karabakh republic in mid-August holding several meetings with officials there.

The Portuguese diplomat said that the MP’s visit was of a private nature, noting that Portugal’s Foreign Ministry posted on its website a notice urging citizens to refrain from visiting Nagorno-Karabakh, according to Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan.

During her visit to Karabakh, Rubina Berardo, Member of Portuguese Parliament from Social-Democratic Party, met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Karen Mirzoyan. She was accompanied by Eduard Sharmazanov, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia and Gagik Melikyan, Head of the Armenia-Portugal Friendship Group in the Armenian Parliament.

During the meeting, Karen Mirzoyan presented NKR’s foreign policy priorities and touched upon the activities aimed at achieving progress in the processes of international recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and peaceful settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh.

The sides also discussed possibilities of establishing practical ties between the two countries. In this regard, Karen Mirzoyan noted that expanding cooperation between Artsakh and different countries would essentially contribute to stability in the region.

]]>1MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286102017-08-28T19:57:20Z2017-08-28T19:57:20ZYEREVAN — Within the frames of the restoration project of small dome church of Dadivank monastery, the archeological excavations have kicked off…

]]>YEREVAN — Within the frames of the restoration project of small dome church of Dadivank monastery, the archeological excavations have kicked off which will last 10 days, head of Artsakh’s Tigranakert expedition Hamlet Petrosyan told Armenpress, adding that the monastery has been subjected to excavations partially since 2007, but it still remains archeologically unobserved.

“The southern wall of the small dome church has been cracked, and it was necessary to check the basis for restoration. Based on research works, underneath has been opened under the southern wall which is stretched along the entire wall. Currently we are excavating it and are not clear what it is”, Petrosyan said, adding that if everything is not clear at this stage, the archaeologists will think about conducting excavations at that site again.

He informed that a small expedition is working in the Dadivank monastery. During the July 21, 2007 excavations within the frames of the monastery’s restoration works, the relics of St. Dade apostle have been found under the tomb of one of the churches of monastery. Another mausoleum has been found which is not typical to Armenian Christian traditions: the man buried there is sitting on a chair.

Dadivank is one of the ancient monasteries of Artsakh. Over centuries the monastery has been damaged during the Arabian and Seljuq invasions. However, every time it has been restored and further expanded.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286072017-08-28T19:52:28Z2017-08-28T19:52:28ZYEREVAN ( Armenpress) — The number of asylum seekers in Armenia has increased in the first half of 2017, according to the…

]]>YEREVAN ( Armenpress) — The number of asylum seekers in Armenia has increased in the first half of 2017, according to the data of the National Statistical Service of Armenia.

Most asylum seekers were from Syria, Ukraine, Cuba, Iran, Azerbaijan. The number of foreigners from CIS countries who were granted residence status in Armenia has also increased.

55 people have sought asylum in the first half of 2017 compared to the 46 of the previous year. This year 25 people from Syria, 9 from Ukraine, 7 from Cuba, 6 from Iran and 4 from Azerbaijan have sought asylum.

4 people have been rejected from the asylum claim.

2055 foreigners were granted residence status in Armenia: most of them were from Russia (451), from Iran (336) and from India (265).

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=286002017-08-28T19:26:46Z2017-08-28T19:26:46ZBAKU (RT) — Multiple explosions have rocked an ammunition depot in Azerbaijan, where a fire broke out on Sunday morning. At least…

]]>BAKU (RT) — Multiple explosions have rocked an ammunition depot in Azerbaijan, where a fire broke out on Sunday morning. At least six people were injured in the incident. Residents of nearby villages have been evacuated.

The Azeri authorities would not immediately specify the location of the depot, but local media placed it in the Siazan District of north-eastern Azerbaijan.

Footage published by the news website oxu.az shows a road with cars passing by a massive column of smoke rising in the distance.

Health officials said six people injured by shrapnel were taken to hospital. Their lives are not in danger.

All six injured people are service members; five were released from hospital later in the day while the sixth was kept in for observation. Azeri officials described his condition as stable.

The national ambulance service said its response to the emergency was restricted because it could not risk sending medics closer to the scene due to the threat posed by the continuing explosions.

Several villages located in the immediate vicinity of the depot have been evacuated, the Azeri defense ministry said.

Several houses in the village Gilyazi, which is among those ordered to evacuate, were hit by projectiles coming from the depot, local officials told the media. The shells started fires in the buildings, with firefighters dealing with the spillover.

Shells also reportedly landed in several other locations in the area, but caused no damage.

A motorway linking the Azeri capital Baku with Russia was shut off in the wake of the incident.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285962017-08-25T23:49:05Z2017-08-25T23:49:05ZAzerbaijan has detected something of a national security breach. And this time it comes via a lipstick collection carrying Armenian-American television star…

]]>Azerbaijan has detected something of a national security breach. And this time it comes via a lipstick collection carrying Armenian-American television star Kim Kardashian West’s brand name (KKW) and sold to unsuspecting Azerbaijanis.

For a country locked in a bitter conflict with Armenia over its support for Nagorno Karabakh and occupation of adjoining territory, any product with an ethnic Armenian connection, whether a lipstick or a rifle, can be considered an enemy operation. You put a little bit of Kim Kardashian West (KKW) on your lips and, boom, you support Azerbaijan’s enemy, one government-aligned media outlet warned.

“You may say it’s just cosmetics, big deal. What does it have to do with the Armenian-occupied territories of Azerbaijan?” observed Azeri Today in a Russian-language article with the sub-title “For the attention of Azerbaijan’s Security Services!”

The story takes the trouble to respond to its own question.

The Kardashian family spends part of its earnings on “advancing the recognition of ‘the Armenian Genocide,’ Armenia’s military needs and on sustaining the separatist regime in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories,” the author posited.

As always in propaganda wars, the facts in this drama have taken a back seat.

The 36-year-old Kardashian West indeed campaigns for international recognition of the massacre of ethnic Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide. Both Turkey and its strategic ally and cultural kin, Azerbaijan, fiercely oppose such recognition.

With her sister Khloé and husband, rapper Kanye West, in tow, Kardashian West made a grand visit to Armenia in April 2015, drawing attention to genocide commemorations there. The actress’ own paternal ancestors reportedly barely escaped the killings when they migrated to the US at the turn of the 20th century.

But the celebrity is certainly not known for pitching against Azerbaijan in its arms race with Armenia or for promoting Nagorno Karabakh’s claim to independence. She only weighed in publicly on the long-simmering conflict when full-fledged fighting broke out last April. “Praying for everyone in Armenia and around the world,” she said at the time in an Instagram post.

This was enough to prompt the ire of Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the United States. “Matters of war and peace are a little too serious for a reality TV star,” Elin Suleymanov commented angrily to Foreign Policy.

And, Azeri Today might add, for some in the beauty business.

Its intrepid reporter, Azer Mustafayev, pressed the unnamed individual running the Instagram account (jev_ cosmetiks) selling KKW lipsticks in Azerbaijan for details about her supplier. The “girl,” Mustafayev said, told him that she’d purchased them “in stores in Baku.”

Neither Azeri Today nor Tamada Tales could locate such facilities.

That said, jev_ cosmetiks is not the only Baku-based online vendor of these lipsticks — at least a few others exist as well.

The $45 KKW by Kylie lipstick collection, produced in California, is marketed exclusively by KylieCosmetics.com, a company branded for Kardashian West’s half-sister, the 20-year-old model and actress Kylie Jenner. The company limits sales to three of the same item per customer, but using a network of people to purchase hipster products online or to haul them in from Russia to resell locally is a longstanding Caucasus business practice.

Kardashian West and jev_ cosmetiks could not be reached for comment about the lipsticks’ appearance in Azerbaijan.

The fact that neither KKW by Kylie, nor its distributor, KylieCosmetics.com, is Armenian means little or nothing to ethnicity-conscious Azerbaijanis. Earlier this year, calls were made in Azerbaijan to ban Yandex and Uber’s joint taxi-hailing service because an ethnic Armenian is at the helm of the company.

Armenians, too, have taken action against Azerbaijani apples and garlic that have infltrated Armenia’s fruit stands and supermarkets.

Meanwhile, back in Baku, jev_cosmetiks is left defending its line of lipsticks. It appears to have removed from Instagram the offending KKW photos. Viewers outraged over its remaining Kylie Cosmetics stock, it implies, should get a life.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285922017-08-25T23:16:48Z2017-08-25T23:16:48ZYEREVAN (Armenpress) — Former reporter of Bulgarian Trud daily Dilyana Gaytandzhieva who was dismissed from her job on August 24, assures that…

]]>YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Former reporter of Bulgarian Trud daily Dilyana Gaytandzhieva who was dismissed from her job on August 24, assures that Azerbaijan and Aliyev’s administration stand behind the decision of her dismissal. Dilyana Gaytandzhieva encountered troubles following her article revealing arms supplies by Azerbaijan to terrorists by diplomatic flights.

In an exclusive interview with Armenpress Dilyana Gaytandzhieva presented details over the case. The reporter tells that on August 23 she was called to the National Security of Bulgaria.

“A Bulgarian National Security officer called me and invited to their office, where I was interrogated over my source of investigative journalism. I told them how I got that confidential document, but refused to unveil the source, since I am not obliged to do that”, Dilyana Gaytandzhieva tells.

A few hours after Dilyana Gaytandzhieva left the National Security Agency, she received a call from Trud daily.

“A few hours after the interrogation I received a call from the secretary of my office, who asked me to come to the office after the working day finishes. I went to the office and was informed that I am dismissed without any explanation. I did not even meet with the editor-in-chief.

I am convinced that influential people stand behind all these, and those people are not only from Bulgaria. This is not a personal issue, it refers to Azerbaijan which supplies terrorists and countries that are involved in the supply chain with arms by its state-run airline”, says Dilyana Gaytandzhieva.

“Following the publication of that article the embassy of Azerbaijan made a complaint, saying that my article is directed against their country. Yes, it’s directed against them and all those involved in that deal. The Azerbaijani embassy called on investigating my activities and now, instead of investigating the criminal activities of supplying terrorists with arms, they are trying to find out my source of information”, the Bulgarian reporter told Armenpress.

Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, speaking about her dismissal, noted that the contract has been breached without any explanation. Therefore, it’s clear that the mentioned daily is not ready to act as an independent news outlet and support independent journalism.

Speaking about her future activities, the reporter informed that she plans to return to Syria and continue with her investigation freely.

“I have received wrathful comments from some Azerbaijanis closely connected with Baku. No one can stop me and now I have nothing to lose. I will continue doing what I used to do”, says the Bulgarian reporter.

Dilyana Gaytandzhieva calls on all the advocates of justice and truth to unite and struggle against the illegal acts of the Aliyev regime. The reporter also wants to confront these measures of Azerbaijan and calls her professional colleagues do so.

“They are afraid to express their opinions and tell the truth about Azerbaijan. I assure, Azerbaijan tries to interfere in the domestic affairs of Bulgaria. What happened with me was not the first case – I am neither the first one, nor the last one”, Gaytandzhieva said.

Gaytandzhieva is convinced that the international crimes committed by Azerbaijan should be investigated by the UN.

“The Azerbaijani authorities should be brought to responsibility according to the international right. I have numerous footages and proofs that innocent people are killed in Syria by weapons supplied by Azerbaijan’s stae airline”, the Bulgarian reporter stresses.

The investigative reporter also noted that apart from various means of pressure imposed by Azerbaijan to limit freedom of speech, it also widely relies on bribery. They have bribed a number of Bulgarian media outlets which depict them under positive light and silence the voices of the past.

A scandalous investigation was published in the Bulgarian newspaper Trud on July 2 which reveals the Azerbaijani state circles’ direct engagement in supplying weapons to Islamic terrorist groups at different parts of the world.

Dilyana Gaytandzhieva’s investigative article mainly focuses on the illegal and large-scale export and sale of arms to Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Congo by Silk Way Airlines (an Azerbaijani state-run company) under the cover of diplomatic flights.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285882017-08-25T22:55:18Z2017-08-25T22:55:18ZYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Richard Mills, the U.S. ambassador in Yerevan praised the Armenian military on Friday for participating in the latest NATO-led…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Richard Mills, the U.S. ambassador in Yerevan praised the Armenian military on Friday for participating in the latest NATO-led military exercises held in neighboring Georgia, calling that a “great example of Armenia’s ability to balance its interests.”

“Armenia should be very proud,” Mills told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). “It was the only [Collective Security Treaty Organization] member in this exercise.”

“And it contributed a very important component to this military exercise with the medical units that supported all the other nations that participated,” he said. “That helped the Armenian military, that helped this exercise and, I think, it helped security in Europe overall.”

The two-week drills, which began in late July, involved about 2,800 soldiers from the United States, Georgia, Britain, Germany, Turkey, Ukraine, Slovenia and Armenia. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited the participating troops during an August 1 trip to Georgia.

The participation of around 30 Armenian soldiers in the drills codenamed “Noble Partner” underscored Armenia’s policy of complementing a military alliance with Russia with closer security ties to the West.

“Armenia does a good job of balancing its relationships with all its neighbors,” said Mills. “That includes Russia, that includes Iran, and that includes the United States and the European Union.”

“The goal for our Armenian friends, for the Armenian government is to make sure that Armenia can make its own sovereign decisions about what path it should choose, what economic and political models it follows,” Mills went on. “And we want to help give Armenia the tools to continue making sovereign choices and to make sure that it’s not overly influenced or forced by others to follow certain paths that perhaps Armenia doesn’t want to follow.”

Armenia has deepened defense cooperation with the U.S. and other NATO member states since the early 2000s. It currently contributes more than 100 troops to NATO-led missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan and regularly participates in multinational exercises organized by the U.S. military.

Those troops are part of the Armenian army’s Peacekeeping Brigade that has received considerable U.S. assistance. A U.S.-funded renovation of the brigade’s main training center began as recently as in March.

Mills stressed that U.S.-Armenian military has had a “much broader” scope. In his words, the United States has provided almost $50 million worth of military equipment and trained over 200 Armenian military personnel since 2002.

The envoy also revealed that the U.S. offered to help Armenia last year to “learn lessons” from the April 2016 fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh. The four-day hostilities left at least 190 Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers dead and nearly escalated into an all-out war. They were halted by a Russian-mediated agreement.

“After the tragic fighting in April [2016] we approached our friends in the [Armenian] Ministry of Defense to talk to them about the lessons learned from that in terms of the military structure, mission command, communication … whether we could provide some assistance and how the U.S. military does its after-action reports.

“The answer was that the ministry would be very interested in that. That was a program we had in place. But I think that it became a little bit of higher priority after the April events.”

Mills added that the commander of U.S. Army Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, personally discussed the issue with Armenia’s top military officials when he visited Yerevan in May 2016.

The diplomat further made clear that while Washington is committed to Armenia’s security it will continue to avoid selling offensive weapons to any of the parties to the Karabakh conflict. “I think that is one area where we differ from Russia,” he said.

The U.S., Russia and France have long been jointly spearheading international efforts to end the Karabakh conflict.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285842017-08-25T22:37:58Z2017-08-25T22:37:58ZISTANBUL — Simon Arakelyan, a Catholic Armenian from Ankara, tells the story of a terrifying 122-day journey during the Armenian Genocide. An…

]]>ISTANBUL — Simon Arakelyan, a Catholic Armenian from Ankara, tells the story of a terrifying 122-day journey during the Armenian Genocide.

An authentic and vivid account on Armenian Genocide, which was long-forgotten, finally came to light. In “Ankara Vukuati: Menfilik Hatiralarim” (The Ankara Incident: My Memoir of Exile), which is the chronology of a terrifying 122-day journey, Simon Arakelyan, a Catholic Armenian from Ankara, tells the story of his survival during the Armenian Genocide. The book, which was written in Turkish with Armenian alphabet, is published with Latin alphabet for the first time.

According to Arakelyan’s account, Catholic Armenians, who dreaded the day they will be murdered in the midst of the massacres of Orthodox Armenians, were eventually arrested in groups and sent on a death journey, during which they struggled with maltreatment, assaults, hunger and conditions of nature. The next destination after the first stop in Tarsus was deserts of Deir ez-Zor, where there was hardly any chance of survival. Thus, there was only one thing on Arakelyan’s mind: Escaping from the death march to Deir ez-Zor at all costs. Fortunately, he had a lucky break. Following his breathtaking escape, he published his memories full of anguish in 1921.

This memoir sheds light on several subjects at first hand: Sufferings of Catholic Armenians, who were not massacred or deported according to official history narrative; conditions of the deportation; confiscation of Armenian properties and Great Ankara Fire in 1917. However, this is not the only significance of the book. This text depicts the feelings of an average Armenian man in the Ottoman Empire in those days, how he made sense of what he went through and his self-contemplation in an explicit way.

Edited and transcribed by Murat Cankara, this work also includes the transliteration of the original text for those who’d like to read Arakelyan’s own words written in a sophisticated Ottoman Turkish.

Simon Arakelyan
We know very little about Simon Arakelyan. He was born and raised in Ankara. In 1922, he immigrated to France, acquired French citizenship in 1939 and passed away same year. He was a Regie officer, married and had a daughter. His mother tongue was probably Turkish and his French, Ottoman Turkish and Armenian were pretty good. After the Armistice of 1918 (Mudros), he testified in the investigation on massacres of Armenians in Ankara. Ankara Vukuati is his first and only work.

]]>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Legendary French Armenian singer Charles Aznavour finally got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, capping a more than 70-year career as one of his country’s most popular entertainers.

Aznavour, 93, who was born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris to Armenian parents, has sold more than 100 million records in 80 countries. He has been described as France’s equivalent to Frank Sinatra.

The singer on Thursday described himself as happy at the honor – with reservations.

“The word I can say is happy, and with a part of emotion, of course, because we are far away from my country, from my way of living, from my way of being received by the people,” he said at the Hollywood ceremony.

Aznavour began his career peddling his words and music to the Paris boulevardiers of the 40s and 50s – Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier and Charles Trenet.

He soon became adept himself at interpreting emotional love songs, recording hits like “She,” “Hier Encore” (Yesterday When I Was Young), “Apres l’Amour” (After Love) and “La Boheme.”

Aznavour is also known for his humanitarian work in Armenia, especially after the 1988 earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people. He was granted Armenian citizenship in 2008 and was appointed in 2009 to be that country’s ambassador to Switzerland, a position he still holds.

The star located at 6225 Hollywood Boulevard next to the historic Pantages Theatre.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285752017-08-25T04:57:10Z2017-08-25T04:57:10ZYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — President Serzh Sarkisian called for the launch of “large-scale” joint economic projects by Armenia and Turkmenistan after meeting with…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — President Serzh Sarkisian called for the launch of “large-scale” joint economic projects by Armenia and Turkmenistan after meeting with his visiting Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on Thursday.

The two leaders pledged to deepen economic, political and cultural ties between their ex-Soviet states and presided over the signing of several Turkmen-Armenian agreements after talks held in Yerevan.

“Our relations date back to the Middle Ages,” Berdimuhamedov said in his opening remarks at the talks. “We are happy that we are continuing that today and serving as an example for younger generations in our countries.”

Sarkisian, for his part, described Turkmenistan as a “reliable partner” with which Armenia would like to forge closer relations in a wide range of areas.

“The [Turkmen] president and I paid special attention to promising avenues of developing economic cooperation,” he told reporters after the talks.

“I am convinced that with joint efforts we can advance large-scale projects underpinned by modern manufacturing and new jobs, and a broader development of the national economies,” Sarkisian went on. “Mr. President [Berdimuhamedov] said during our negotiations that he is now thinking about projects worth not millions but billions [of dollars.] We are buoyed by that and will definitely work in that direction.”

Berdimuhamedov did not mention any concrete projects in his statement to the press. He said only that his official visit to Armenia, the second in five years, will lay the groundwork for closer bilateral ties in areas such as energy, transport and agriculture.

Sarkisian also cited the energy sector. “We agreed to continue developing productive cooperation in this area,” he said without elaborating.

Hydrocarbon-rich Turkmenistan was Armenia’s principal supplier of natural gas until the Armenian government signed a long-term deal with Russia’s Gazprom monopoly in the late 1990s.

Early this year, the Armenian government indicated its desire to resume imports of Turkmen gas via neighboring Iran. Prime Minister Karen Karapetian discussed such a possibility with Turkmenistan’s Energy Minister Charymyrat Purchekov in Yerevan two weeks before visiting the Turkmen capital Ashgabat in March. Karapetian met with Berdimuhamedov during that trip.

The issue was also on the agenda of Sarkisian’s August 6 meeting in Tehran with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani. Visiting Yerevan last December, Rouhani said Iran is ready to serve as a transit route for Turkmen gas supplies to Armenia.

Sarkisian and Berdimuhamedov already pledged to boost bilateral commerce when they met in Ashgabat in 2014. Turkmen-Armenian trade, which stood at a modest $22.7 million in 2013, has continued to shrink since then, however. According to Armenian government data, it plummeted by 33 percent to $12 million in 2016.

Sarkisian blamed this decline on “unfavorable developments in global markets.” “We hope that the implementation of today’s agreements will help to rectify the situation,” he said.

Turkmenistan has maintained cordial relations with Armenia under both Berdimuhamedov and his late predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov. By contrast, its rapport with Armenia’s arch-foe Azerbaijan has long been strained due to a dispute over a big oilfield in the Caspian Sea. Berdimuhamedov sought to ease those tensions when he visited Baku two weeks ago.

The autocratic Turkmen leader, in power since 2006, was full of praise for Armenia on Thursday, thanking Yerevan for supporting his country in the international arena. A joint communique issued by him and Sarkisian, makes a veiled reference to the Nagorno-Karabakh. It calls for “solely peaceful solutions to existing conflicts.”

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285712017-08-24T19:17:49Z2017-08-24T19:17:49ZYEREVAN — Richard Hoagland, the outgoing U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group met with Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists in Washington, presenting…

]]>YEREVAN — Richard Hoagland, the outgoing U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group met with Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists in Washington, presenting U.S. policy towards the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution.

During the meeting, Hoagland circulated a document outlining key points to guide the political settlement process which has been advanced and repeatedly modified by the U.S., Russian and French mediators over the past decade.

The proposed settlement calls for Armenian withdrawal from virtually all seven districts around Karabakh that were fully or partly occupied by Armenian forces in 1992-1993. In return, Karabakh’s predominantly Armenian population would determine its internationally recognized status in a future referendum. “The sides should commit to determining the final legal status through a mutually agreed and legally binding expression of will in the future.” “The occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh should be returned to Azerbaijani control,” According to the statement circulated by Hoagland.

It also says: “There should be a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. It must be wide enough to provide secure passage, but it cannot encompass the whole of Lachin district.”

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian on Thursday downplayed the significance of Hoagland’s statement. According to the Armenpress news agency, Nalbandian said that the U.S. mediator simply reaffirmed what has for years been stated by the three mediating powers and contained some inaccuracies and omissions,

“The American Co-Chairs has not said anything new. Look at all previous statements and you’ll see the same things,” Minister Nalbandian told reporters today.

Nalbandian also dismissed suggestions that Hoagland’s move was timed to coincide with Wednesday’s talks between the Armenian and Russian presidents, which touched upon the Karabakh issue as well. He said that Hoagland simply gave a farewell interview to Armenian and Azerbaijani reporters.“The American Co-Chair’s tenure is coming to an end, and he just gave a press conference and spoke about certain issues once again.” Nalbandian said.

]]>WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. interim co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador Richard Hoagland, is retiring on August 28.

Announcing his plans at a roundtable discussion at the Washington Foreign Press Center, Hoagland, currently the State Department’s principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, said he will be replaced by Andrew Schofer, a career foreign service officer who most recently served as charge d’affaires of the U.S. Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna.

“He has experience in the settlement of the Cyprus and other conflicts,” Hoagland said. “I think the Secretary of State and the State Department have chosen a brilliant Co-Chair.”

Hoagland said the new appointment does not indicate a new approach to some of the thorniest issues in the region, particularly Azerbaijan’s autonomous breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285632017-08-23T18:37:36Z2017-08-23T18:37:36ZSOCHI (RFE/RL) — President Vladimir Putin praised Russia’s close political, military and economic ties with Armenia as he met with his Armenian…

]]>SOCHI (RFE/RL) — President Vladimir Putin praised Russia’s close political, military and economic ties with Armenia as he met with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday.

Putin started the talks by noting the upcoming 20th anniversary of the signing of a comprehensive Russian-Armenian treaty.

“Since then relations between Armenia and Russia as sovereign states have strengthened in the most serious manner,” he said. “We maintain an intensive political dialogue, cooperate on a bilateral basis in the areas of economy and security, military affairs.”

“We actively interact within the framework of international organizations and our integration structures,” Putin added in televised remarks.

Sarkisian likewise described Russian-Armenian relations as “strategic” and multifaceted. “Our commercial ties are developing intensively,” he went on, pointing to a 24 percent rise in bilateral trade recorded by the Armenian government in the first half of this year.

Sarkisian also thanked Moscow for helping authorities in Armenia extinguish a massive wildfire that broke out in a nature reserve southeast of Yerevan earlier this month. A Russian water-dropping plane played a major role in the firefighting efforts there.

Neither president mentioned the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in his opening remarks. A statement on the talks issued by the Kremlin also made no reference to the issue.

According to the Armenian presidential press office, Putin and Sarkisian discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute after their meeting continued behind closed doors. The office gave no details.

The two leaders made no public statements after the talks held in the presence of Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov of Russia and Edward Nalbandian of Armenia.Lavrov has been personally involved in international efforts to broker an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal.

Putin met with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Sochi late last month. The Karabakh conflict was also on the agenda.

Putin hosted the most recent Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in Saint-Petersburg in June 2016, two months after four-day hostilities around Karabakh which Moscow helped to halt. The three presidents signaled progress towards a Karabakh settlement right after that meeting. However, the peace process again stalled in the following months.

Russia and the two other mediating powers, the United States and France, now hope to organize another Aliyev-Sarkisian meeting this fall.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285482017-08-23T18:35:37Z2017-08-23T18:35:37ZLONDON — Thousands of Armenian manuscripts were written prior to the 15th century, when Gutenberg’s invention of the printing-press provided a technological…

]]>LONDON — Thousands of Armenian manuscripts were written prior to the 15th century, when Gutenberg’s invention of the printing-press provided a technological breakthrough for the future progress of mankind. Armenians at that time were not free, but they were able to harness the new technology to print books thousands of miles away in Europe. In 1512, Hakob Meghabard set up the first Armenian press in Venice. Half a century later, Abgar Dbir, who came to Rome to seek support for the liberation of his homeland, developed the notion of “book – homeland” – a national identity sustained through print. Printing became a means of Armenian national rejuvenation.

The film, Voskan Yerevantsi, is about this epic struggle to produce Armenian books in the 16th-17th centuries. The central character of the film is Voskan Yerevantsi, who became the first Armenian publisher of the Bible. He set on his mission at Saint Sarkis Monastery of Ushi in Aragats (in present-day Armenia) and ended up in Rome, Amsterdam and Marseilles.

One of the results of these endeveavours was the spread of Armenian presses into Ottoman Turkey and Persia, predating those of Turks and Persians.

The printing of the Bible in Armenian, between 1666 and 1668, raised the standing of Armenians to that of other powerful nations in the world. A magnificent illustrated copy of the book was sent as a gift to the Sun King, Louis XIV of France.

]]>YEREVAN — Armenia’s Maksim Manukyan (80 kg) beat Radik Kuliyev of Belarus in the final to claim gold at the 2017 World Wrestling Championships under way in Paris.

It took the Armenian wrestler less than two minutes to defeat Georgia’s Zurabi Datunashvili in the semi-final 7:0 earlier today.

Maksim Manukyan won the second gold for team Armenia in the current championship. Reigning World and Olympic champ Artur Aleksanyan retained his title in a bout with Russia’s Musa Yevloyev yesterday.

Armenian Wrestlers Return Home to Hero’s welcome
Artur Aleksanyan and Maksim Manukyan returned home today to hero’s welcome. At Zvartnots Airport the sportsmen were greeted by thousands of fans, relatives and officials.

President of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia Gagik Tsarukyan crowned the champions with laurels.

The World Wrestling Championship that kicked off in Paris on August 21 will continue through August 26.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285582017-08-23T18:32:42Z2017-08-23T18:32:42ZYEREVAN (Mediamax) — Make Armenia Clean Again community in cooperation with Realizeit LLC created KillZibil free mobile app for creation of unified…

]]>YEREVAN (Mediamax) — Make Armenia Clean Again community in cooperation with Realizeit LLC created KillZibil free mobile app for creation of unified map of Armenia’s polluted areas which can be edited in real time.

The app is user-friendly – you only need to take a picture of a polluted area and add it to the map. The feedback system is just as simple: you can upload a new picture with already cleaned area in the comments below the first picture.

According to developers, the app will become a convenient communication tool between the citizens, authorities and structures, responsible for sanitary cleaning and waste collection. The statistics of new uploads of polluted and then cleaned areas will be posted via Make Armenia Clean Again community’s pages on social media.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285442017-08-21T20:04:15Z2017-08-21T20:04:15ZYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Official Yerevan has scoffed at reports that Turkey would like to sign a free-trade deal with the Russian-led Eurasian…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Official Yerevan has scoffed at reports that Turkey would like to sign a free-trade deal with the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), pointing to the long-running Turkish economic blockade of Armenia.

The Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci as saying on Friday that Ankara is seeking to open negotiations on a “customs agreement” with the EEU in an effort to expand Turkey’s commercial ties with Russia.

“A free trade agreement between Russia and Turkey will lead to a new level of partnership,” Zeybekci told a business forum held in the Turkish city of Izmir. He said it would not run counter to his country’s customs union with the European Union established in 1995.

Armenia, which joined the EEU in 2015, was quick to react to the Turkish minister’s reported statement. “First of all, the EEU’s founding treaty does not provide for a possibility of joining the EEU customs area,” Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian said on Saturday.

“Furthermore, it is ridiculous that the talk of joining the EEU customs area is coming from Turkey, which unilaterally closed [in 1993] the Turkish-Armenian border — the only land border between Turkey and the EEU customs area,” Kocharian added in written comments.

Turkey has kept the border closed and refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia out of solidarity with Azerbaijan, its closest regional ally. Successive governments in Ankara have made the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations conditional on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Baku. Yerevan rejects this linkage.

The Armenpress news agency quoted another, unnamed official from the Armenian Foreign Ministry as warning that any deal between Turkey and the Russian-led trade bloc would have to be backed by all EEU member states, including Armenia.

Russian government officials have not yet publicly commented on the possibility of such a deal with Ankara.

Last year, Armenia vetoed Pakistan’s request for an observer status in the Parliamentary Assembly of another Russian-dominated alliance of ex-Soviet states: the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Armenian officials argued that Pakistan refuses to not only establish diplomatic relations with Armenia but also formally recognize the latter as an independent state.

Just like Turkey, Pakistan has always fully and unconditionally supported Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict, accusing Armenia of military aggression against its Muslim neighbor.

]]>PARIS — Reigning world and Olympic champion Artur Aleksanyan of Armenia beat Russia’s Musa Yevloyev 3-1 in the final to claim gold at the 2017 World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships under way in Paris.

Aleksanyan rolled past G’Angelo Hancock 10-1 at 98 kilograms. The Olympic champ scored on an early step out and drove Hancock to the edge before scoring a takedown to go up 3-0. “The White Bear” added to his lead after the break with a four-point move on the edge and then put Hancock away with a takedown for the technical superiority win.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285362017-08-21T19:55:49Z2017-08-21T19:55:49ZNEW YORK — On August 14, the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), in partnership with Survival Pictures, the production company behind The…

]]>NEW YORK — On August 14, the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), in partnership with Survival Pictures, the production company behind The Promise, and major Armenian organizations in North America, launched The Promise to Educate campaign to raise funds for the advancement of Armenian Genocide education across the United States.

Expanding on the social impact mission of The Promise and recognizing the gaps in genocide education in the U.S., AGBU and its partners have initiated a campaign to send copies of the film and relevant curriculum resources to public educational institutions across the country. While human rights issues and related history are included in the social studies curricula of the vast majority of public schools, the Armenian Genocide goes largely ignored. Currently, the Armenian Genocide is not a required subject in history courses in most schools and lack of awareness and teaching materials leaves it on the sidelines.

“The primary goal of the filmmakers of The Promise was not only to bring our history to light, but to encourage a dialogue among middle school and high school students and their teachers,” said AGBU Central Board Member Ani Manoukian. “The AGBU Alternative Education Department works to provide a diverse range of resources on various topics of Armenian language, history and culture for classrooms. The distribution of The Promise DVDs, along with tailored study materials, provides access to trustworthy information about the Armenian Genocide, challenging the powerful forces of denial.”

Donations will allow AGBU to supply Keep The Promise Educational Packages to American public middle and high schools, higher educational institutions and libraries. Each package includes a copy of The Promise DVD, a letter from filmmaker Terry George, a tailored The Promise Study Guide and a reference of Armenian Genocide curriculum resources and contacts. The package is developed in cooperation with well-known genocide education organizations, such as the Armenian National Institute (ANI), The Genocide Education Project and the Zoryan Institute.

]]>ITHACA, NY – On the slopes of Mt. Aragats, the tallest mountain in Armenia, archaeologists are painstakingly uncovering the ancient past. From July 17-20, six Armenian girls got an insider’s view as participants in the pilot session of Camp Aragats.

The camp is the first programmatic initiative of the U.S.-based Aragats Foundation and its Armenian sister organization, the Aragats Cultural Heritage Foundation. Founded in 2014 by Cornell archaeologists Lori Khatchadourian and Adam T. Smith, The Aragats Foundation serves as the public outreach wing of Project Aragats, a collaborative archaeological research program established in 1998 that is dedicated to exploring Armenia’s past, from the earliest times through the modern era.

“A few years ago, Adam and I started to ask whether we were doing enough to give back to the communities that had made our research possible for all of these years. We were also thinking about how we could harness archaeology to improve lives. The answer was the Aragats Foundation,” says Khatchadourian, associate professor of Near Eastern Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. Smith is Goldwin Smith Professor of Anthropology.

Poverty is widespread in Armenia and is particularly severe in rural, mountainous regions where agriculture is limited – areas such as around Mt. Aragats, notes Khatchadourian. The work the village men do for the archaeologists is important but not sufficient. “For several years,” Smith observed, “Project ArAGATS was one of the largest employers in the region. But our work is seasonal and finite. How, we asked, could heritage produce more sustainable economic and social benefits?” The goal of the Aragats Foundation and its Armenian partner is to harness archaeology to enhance local prosperity.

Given the high interest in heritage tourism in Armenia, the Aragats Foundation archaeologists hope to promote an interest in local tourism. Bringing tourists into the area would be a boon to local business and a spur for entrepreneurship. The Foundation has already engaged an architect to develop one of the Project Aragats sites, known as Tsaghkahovit (“Plain of Flowers”), into a heritage tourism destination.

Education is another priority area for the Foundation, and Camp Aragats represents its first public engagement effort. The girls-only pilot session was a response to the limited opportunities for girls in rural Armenia, says Khatchadourian. The camp focused on cultivating broad interests in archaeological research in addition to teaching the campers about the ancient history of their region.

“Archaeology is a terrific vehicle for sharing the thrill of scientific discovery and the possibilities of new technologies to illuminate the past. These insights and skills can be translated into domains beyond archaeology. Our goal is to ignite an interest in scientific and humanistic inquiry that can open doors and opportunities for children as they continue with their education,” says Khatchadourian. She served as camp co-director with Armine Harutyunyan, Armenian archaeologist and executive director of the Aragats Cultural Heritage Foundation.

“This was the best camp of my life,” said 13-year old Susanna Barseghyan, who’s been to many. She cited getting to hear and see the “secrets” of archaeology and discovering ancient cultures in her own neighborhood as some of the camp’s highlights.

The camp piggybacked on the summer field research of Project Aragats. Scholars working on the project (including several Cornell graduate students) donated anywhere from an hour to half a day to teach the campers about their work. “It was extraordinary to have so many different dimensions of research going on at the same time, but that is the culture of Project ArAGATS. We cultivate multidisciplinary research so that when the different pieces are brought together, the sum is much greater than the parts,” notes Khatchadourian.

Campers learned how to dig at the site of Gegharot, working alongside seasoned excavators from the nearby village. “Above all else, the children loved the process of excavation,” says Khatchadourian. “There was nothing quite like the excitement of stumbling upon a sherd of ancient pottery with their trowels and recognizing that they were directly uncovering the past.”

Like ancient potter apprentices, campers learned how to work with clay and got to attempt putting together a fragmented vessel from the Late Bronze Age. In a ceramic analysis session, they learned to identify the fragments of ancient pottery that litter the dirt roads of their neighborhood which lies just below an ancient fortress that they had previously thought of as mere rocks.

Other sessions included archaeological drawing with the project’s architect and remote sensing with their GIS expert. Campers learned how to spot ancient burials by walking the landscape with a team of survey archaeologists, and a Paleolithic specialist taught them how to knap Stone Age tools from obsidian. In a session on paleoethnobotany and palynology, campers learned how botanical remains can convey information about ancient climate, agriculture and diet. And a session on human osteology allowed the girls to try their hands at identifying Bronze Age skeletal remains as they learned how bones can convey information about age, sex, and health.

During the session on spatial technologies, which included working with maps, the campers learned how to fly a drone. “That was definitely a highlight,” says Khatchadourian with a laugh.

Family responses to the camp have been positive. But the most poignant testimonial came from the campers themselves: at the end of the camp day, says Khatchadourian, the girls simply refused to leave.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285242017-08-18T21:15:39Z2017-08-18T21:15:39ZYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — President Serzh Sarkisian is pressing ahead with plans to form an advisory “Pan-Armenian Council” that will consist of senior…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — President Serzh Sarkisian is pressing ahead with plans to form an advisory “Pan-Armenian Council” that will consist of senior officials from Armenia and representatives of its worldwide Diaspora.

Sarkisian met with the chairman of the Armenian Constitutional Court, Gagik Harutiunian, and other state officials on Friday to discuss ongoing preparations for the inaugural session of the council which his office said will take place next year.

Plans for creating such a body were first announced in 2015 by a high-level commission that organized official commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. The commission was headed by Sarkisian and comprised other senior Armenian state officials as well as the top clerics of the Armenian Apostolic Church and leaders of some Diaspora organizations.

It was agreed that the council will seek greater international recognition of the genocide, examine “conditions of Armenians around the world” and coordinate “pan-Armenian activities.” Practical modalities of its creation were supposed to be worked out by a task force headed by Hartiunian and Vigen Sargsian, the then chief of the presidential staff who became Armenia’s defense minister last October.

A statement by the presidential press service said Harutiunian presented “approaches and mechanisms” for the council’s formation during Friday’s meeting chaired by Sarkisian. It said the head of state instructed officials to draft a package of corresponding decisions that will be discussed at an Armenia-Diaspora conference slated for next month. One of those documents will relate to “the agenda of the first council meeting to be held in 2018.”

The statement did not specify whether the Pan-Armenian Council will hold its first meeting before or after Sarkisian completes his final presidential term in April 2018. The president has still not publicly clarified whether he plans to stay in government in another capacity.

There are an estimated 8 million to 9 million ethnic Armenians around the world. Only up to 3 million of them live in Armenia. Most of the others reside in Russia, the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285202017-08-18T21:11:43Z2017-08-18T21:11:43ZBELMONT, MA — Join Dr. Henry Theriault, recently elected as President of the International Association of Genocide Studies (IAGS), in conversation with…

]]>BELMONT, MA — Join Dr. Henry Theriault, recently elected as President of the International Association of Genocide Studies (IAGS), in conversation with NAASR’s Academic Director Marc Mamigonian, on the state of genocide studies today and the place of Armenian Genocide studies within the field as a whole. The event, entitled “Setting the Agenda: Genocide Studies Today and the Place of the Armenian Genocide,” will take place on Thursday, October 21, 2017, at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478. The program is presented as the first of the 2017-2018 NAASR / Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Lecture Series on Contemporary Armenian Issues.

Dr. Theriault has served as founding co-editor of the peer-reviewed journal Genocide Studies International, chaired the Armenian Genocide Reparations Study Group and was lead author of its 2015 final report, and his autobiographical narrative, “Out of the Shadow of War and Genocide,” was included in Advancing Genocide Studies: Personal Accounts and Insights from Scholars in the Field (2015), edited by Samuel Totten. After 19 years on the faculty in the Philosophy Department at Worcester State, in 2017 he became Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs.

As a scholar who has been a leading voice among of genocide studies over the past decade and more, and now as President of the IAGS, a position to which he was elected in June 2017, Theriault is among those setting the agenda for genocide studies. In his inaugural address, he stated that “genocide studies has been at the forefront of recent human rights advances. … Demagogues attack the sensibilities genocide studies engenders. Our work is a crucial challenge to their propaganda. IAGS must strive against this marginalization while innovatively expanding the field, especially creating space for emerging scholars particularly vulnerable to this backlash.”

For more information about this program, contact NAASR at 617-489-1610 or hq@naasr.org.

]]>FRESNO — Author and translator Christopher Atamian will present a lecture entitled “Fifty Years of Armenian Literature in France: A Zenith of Diasporan Writing” at 7:30PM on Friday, September 8, 2017, in the University Business Center, Alice Peters Auditorium, Room 191 on the Fresno State campus. Fifty Years of Armenian Literature in France was published as Volume 6 in the Armenian Series of The Press at California State University, Fresno in 2016.

This is the first presentation in the Armenian Studies Program Fall Lecture series, which is supported by the Leon S. Peters Foundation.

Christopher Atamian’s seminal translation of Krikor Beledian’s Fifty Years of Armenian Literature in France: 1922-1972 brings this important work to the English-reading public for the first time. Beledian wrote his opus—part essay, part text book—in French: he traces the fascinating history of a group of forty or so Armenian writers, mainly Genocide survivors, who all regrouped in Paris after the Great Catastrophe of 1915. There, while working during the day in factories they composed a stunning body of work which included poetry, prose, theatrical plays, philosophical musings and even medical treatises.

Their writing was at times conservative and at others as experimental and groundbreaking as those of their leading European colleagues. One wrote luminescent poetry reminiscent of Verlaine: another repatriated to Soviet Armenia only to be killed by the Armenian secret police; another wrote one of the most important Armenian novels of the 20th century; yet another was deported and gassed at Auschwitz. Sarafian, Yessayan, Vorpuni, Nartuni, Sema, Lass… Come discover a lost world of writers and poets, love and intrigue, politics and faith.

Copies of Fifty Years of Armenian Literature in France (in English) will be on sale at the lecture.

Christopher Atamian is a writer, filmmaker, and translator and a native New Yorker. He also writes for the New York Times Book review, The Weekly Standard and the New York Press and was Dance Critic at the New York Press. He increasingly spends his hours writing mainstream projects but remains attached to writing about and disseminating Armenian culture and literature in different ways, whether as a writer, journalist, editor or translator.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Free parking is available in Lots P6 and P5 near the University Business Center, Fresno State. Permits are not required for parking on Friday evenings after 7:00PM.

For more information about the lecture please contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669, or visit our website at www.fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies or follow us on Facebook @ArmenianStudiesFresnoState or on Twitter @armstudiesfs.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285072017-08-18T05:12:10Z2017-08-18T05:12:10ZYEREVAN — Political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan has published a document at voskanapat.info website which makes new discoveries over the number of losses…

]]>YEREVAN — Political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan has published a document at voskanapat.info website which makes new discoveries over the number of losses and wounded of Azerbaijan during the April four-day war of 2016. According to the leaked document, Azerbaijani losses numbered 558 killed and 1293 wounded soldiers

Chief of the general staff of the Azerbaijani armed forces Najmaddin Sadikhov addressed the document to defense minister Zakir Hasanov on April 28, 2016.

“To the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Colonel-General Z. Hasanov

Dear Mr. Minister,

I report to you that the total losses of the Azerbaijani armed forces’ staff in the period from April 2 to 6 of 2016 were 558 killed and 1293 wounded soldiers. 58 of the wounded soldiers are in critical condition. 52 out of 558 killed soldiers cannot be identified.

205 out of the killed soldiers are servicemen of the special-purpose forces of the defense ministry. 98 of them have been killed during military operations in Talish-Aghdara (Martakert), 32 in Fuzuli-Jabrayil, and 75 have been killed during the military operations conducted at central directions.

In order to eliminate the negative criticisms of the Azerbaijani society towards the armed forces, the further fall of the moral and psychological spirit of the army staff and the panic of the staff, I propose:

Not to conduct the transfer of the bodies of killed soldiers of the Azerbaijani armed forces at the same time (about 60 per week).

To carry out the funerals of some of the killed soldiers during the night hours under supervision in agreement with their parents.

To allocate 5000 manats from the defense ministry’s fund to families of the victims
Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan, First Deputy Minister of Defense, Colonel-General N. Sadikhov”, stated in the document.

According to Melik-Shahnazaryan, this report by the chief of the general staff of the Azerbaijani armed forces, numerous assessments in Azerbaijani media and especially in social networks speak about the fact that Azerbaijan faces a serious problem to really assess the effectiveness of its policy. There is a problem of not cheating, respecting each other, not bringing the lie to a state policy level, giving realistic assessment to facts. One thing that has been consistently avoided by the Aliyev regime, and as a result it received a society with defeatist mood. People who already urge him to accept the defeat. And this demand day by day becomes more and more heard.

]]>LOS ANGELES — On Saturday, September 23, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies presents INNOVATE ARMENIA 2017, a day of discovery, technology, music, food, wine, chess and lively conversation headlined by a pair of celebrity-journalist brothers and two 2016 Pulitzer Prize winners.

The brothers are Washington Post columnist David Ignatius and Harvard Business Review editor Adi Ignatius.

The Pulitzer Prize winners are poet Peter Balakian, of Colgate University, and novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, a USC professor of English and American studies.

A Vietnamese-born English literature professor headlining an Armenian diaspora festival may seem strange, but it goes to the heart of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies’ outward-looking, internationalist philosophy.

“We take global Armenian questions and explore them as part of big world issues,” says director Salpi Ghazarian. “INNOVATE ARMENIA is the platform where we make the best of scholarship accessible.”

The Armenian diaspora experience has lessons for everyone, according to David Kang, a featured speaker at Innovate Armenia 2016. A professor of international relations and East Asian languages, Kang heads USC’s Korean Studies Institute. His presentation last year focused on the fluidity of hybrid identities. “Armenians are going through very similar issues that Koreans have,” he said in his talk.

In a city as multiethnic as Los Angeles, the immigrant experience is something most of us can relate to, Ghazarian says. “Anyone, including those whose ancestors arrived on the Mayflower, will find something to pique their interest at Innovate Armenia.”

Last year’s festival, which focused on digital humanities, drew 3,000 attendees and 20,000 more watched online. This year’s program — with a focus on rethinking, relearning and reimagining identity, language, history and technology —is expected to draw even larger crowds.

Some highlights of the day’s events, starting at 10 am:
• Back-to-back presentations in USC’s Bovard Auditorium include a session on rearing global citizens, featuring the Ignatius brothers—both prominent public intellectuals; and a session on new approaches to teaching the humanities, pairing literary icons Nguyen and Balakian. Other provocative speakers include Hovig Etyemezian, chief of the Mosul operation for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees; and Paul Berberian, CEO of Denver-based Sphero, maker of smartphone-controlled toy robots used in education.

• A panel discussion on teaching excellence features five Luys Scholars, recipients of an Armenian government program which supports the education of students of Armenian descent attending top universities in the United States and around the world. Another panel tackles the education of at-risk and immigrant youth to excel in Southern California schools, and pursue higher education in top universities.

• More than a dozen exhibitor booths showcase innovators in STEM education, many from Armenia, including: Armath Labs and Real School, programs that bring after-school computer coding classes to youngsters across urban and rural Armenia; ed-tech company Dasaran.com, creator of Armenia’s first comprehensive e-learning portal; SoloLearn, a free, code-teaching app that took the grand prize in the 2017 Facebook Start App of the Year contest. Also attending the festival is the head of the Dilijan campus of United World College, a network of 14 mixed-nationality boarding schools; and teachers from the Yerevan-based Ayb School, who together with other colleagues attending from Armenia, churn out math and science Olympiad winners year after year.

• On the entertainment stage, the music never stops with performances by eclectic Armenian artists from Vanadzor, Philadelphia, Paris, Yerevan and Glendale.

• Interactive experiences include chess games with grandmaster Tatev Abrahamyan and international master Andranik Matikozyan; a maker space where scientists and festival-goers can collaborate hands-on to solve or observe engineering challenges; and complimentary tasting by Armenia Wine Company, maker of ancient Armenian wines using 21st-century viniculture techniques.

The festival coincides with “Undeliverable: Postcards and Photos of Lives Interrupted,” a unique installation in Doheny Library of vintage postcards of Armenian life in the pre-genocide years, interlaced with mind-bending contemporary imagery by Brazilian photographer Norair Chahinian. A panel discussion with Chahinian, postcard collector Orlando Carlo Calumeno and exhibition co-curator Narineh Mirzaeian takes place in Bovard Auditorium during INNOVATE ARMENIA.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=285022017-08-18T04:25:38Z2017-08-18T04:10:30ZYEREVAN (Armradio) — The battle between Persian army and Russian detachment known as the Battle of Oshakan took place on August 17,…

]]>YEREVAN (Armradio) — The battle between Persian army and Russian detachment known as the Battle of Oshakan took place on August 17, 1827, during the Russian-Persian war. The Persian side was defeated by the Russian detachment which included Armenian volunteers.

The Russian detachment under the leadership of General Afanasy Krasovsky was coming to help the Holy See of Etchmiadzin which was attacked by the Persian army under Abbas-Mirza. There were 30,000 warriors and 24 cannons on Persian side and 3,000 warriors and 12 cannons on Russian side.

As a result the Mother See was saved from being plundered and destroyed.

A monument was placed near Oshakan in 1834 to commemorate the perished warriors.

The Battle of Oshakan was a turning point in the Russian-Persian war of 1826-1828. The subsequent conquest of the Sardarapat Fortress and the Erivan Fortress were to ensure the liberation of Eastern Armenia from Persian oppression.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=284932017-08-17T05:55:40Z2017-08-17T05:55:40ZYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Helped by a water-dropping Russian aircraft, firefighters in Armenia appeared to have largely extinguished on Wednesday a massive wildfire…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Helped by a water-dropping Russian aircraft, firefighters in Armenia appeared to have largely extinguished on Wednesday a massive wildfire that erupted in a nature reserve southeast of Yerevan late last week.

The Ilyushin-72 plane, which joined the firefighting efforts on Tuesday, carried five more flights from a Yerevan airfield to the Khosrov Forest State Reserve throughout the day, dropping another 200 tons of water on the mountainous area.

The Armenian Ministry for Emergency Situations said the jet sent by the Russian government “created security zones and a humid environment in order to prevent a repeat outbreak of fires.” The blaze was mostly contained on Tuesday and all but extinguished by the following evening, according to statements issued by the ministry.

“The fire is contained and under control,” Emergency Situations Minister Davit Tonoyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) at the scene.

Tonoyan said the firefighters and other emergency service workers are now engaged in “post-extinguishment works” aimed at preventing renewed outbreaks. They were joined by more than a hundred Armenian army soldiers.

Heavy rain forecast for Wednesday evening was expected to give a further boost to the ongoing efforts at the Khosrov reserve. In Tonoyan’s words, the Russian plane will again fly over the area on Thursday morning before the authorities in Yerevan determine whether it is still needed by them.

The fire broke out on Saturday and spread quickly due to high temperatures and strong winds. According to preliminary government estimates, it burned about 400 hectares of woodland in the next four days.

The Khosrov reserve occupies roughly 25,000 hectares of land, around 9,000 of which is covered with forests.

Another major wildfire broke out near a village in the southeastern Vayots Dzor province on August 10 and reportedly spread to 650 hectares of land partly covered with trees. The authorities took four days to put out that blaze.

Critics have blamed the Rescue Service and other divisions of Tonoyan’s ministry for the scale of the damage, saying that the authorities were caught unprepared for such calamities. Ministry officials reject the criticism. They argue that mountainous terrain made is practically impossible for them to use fire engines.

The Armenian Ministry of Environment Protection, which oversees the country’s forests and nature reserves, is also facing criticism. Environment Protection Minister Artsvik Minasian rejected on Wednesday claims that his agency did not take necessary precautions despite weeks of unusually hot weather.

“There is some silly information that’s being circulated,” he said. “In particular, it is claimed that specially protected areas were taken under control only after these fires erupted. That is not the case.”

Minasian cited special fire warnings which he issued to forestry officials on July 17. “All of our facilities were put on high alert,” he said.

Law-enforcement authorities suspect that both wildfires were caused by human negligence. They have launched criminal investigations but not charged anyone yet.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=284842017-08-17T05:53:32Z2017-08-17T05:53:32ZThe Armenian Healthcare Crisis is Resulting in Alarming Rates of Late Stage Cancer Diagnosis and Fatality Rates 7 Times That in the…

]]>The Armenian Healthcare Crisis is Resulting in Alarming Rates of Late Stage Cancer Diagnosis and Fatality Rates 7 Times That in the US

By Samantha Feinberg

Armenia is facing a healthcare crisis, and the Children of Armenia Fund is stepping in to reverse it. Lack of routine healthcare in rural areas gives the upper hand to killers like cancer, heart disease, and even diabetes, causing many diagnoses to be made far too late. COAF is paving the way against the lack of medical care by providing free of charge healthcare rural Armenian villages.

In Armenia, the 22% death rate following cancer diagnosis is eight times higher than the 2.8% death rate in the United States. This is primarily due to cancer going undiagnosed until it progresses into stages three and four, for which treatment is financially unattainable for patients. Once a diagnosis is made, individuals are often faced with the financial burden of late-stage cancer treatment, and are forced to sell their homes.

COAF’s partnership with the AAHPO is bringing experienced specialists to the villages, allowing patients to receive free treatment advice for their diagnoses. “We have gynecologists, an oncologist/hematologist, a vascular surgeon, a dentist, a psychiatrist, a nutritionist and a medical assistant in our team,” said Shoghik Kurdian, a US-based dentist of Armenian descent who has just arrived in Armenia to serve as the head of AAHPO.

Lucy Tovmasian, Debra Ferman, Adrine Giritlian, Carla Simonian and others provided professional services. They were accompanied by local doctors, as well as medical students from Armenia and the USA.

To combat late-stage diagnosis, COAF recently provided over 700 breast exams to women in in Armavir and Aragatsotn regions. Of those, 270 women were screened further by ultrasound for possible breast cancer.

Debra Ann Ferman, MD, an oncologist and hematologist, performed screening breast exams, and saw hematology and oncology patients in the villages through the AAHPO’s mission. “In Armenia, one can lose his or her house in order to pay for cancer treatment,” Dr. Ferman said.

Courses of cancer treatment that these late-stage patients take is the least expensive, which is often the least effective. For example, one of Dr. Ferman’s patients w as receiving Herceptin for her Her2 positive breast cancer, which only increases of being cancer free in 10 years by 6%.

“In America we are taught never to compromise care due to the ability to pay,” Dr. Ferman said. Many of these patients have no choice but to stick with whatever is the least expensive treatment option because they are unable to access or afford better treatment options. Dr. Ferman as well as other providers on the mission were able to recommend and provide the most effective treatment routes available to them.

One of COAF’s goals is to alleviate the financial burdens of post-diagnosis treatments. The AAHPO recently provided free medical services in Arteni, Karakert, Myasnikyan, Arevatsag, Tumanyan, Panik, Armavir and Alaverdi, all COAF-supported villages. Aida Muradyan, the head of the COAF-supported health clinic in Karakert said, “Most our patients cannot even afford to see doctors in Yerevan, and here they can consult with the best doctors who can help them.”

COAF’s initiative to provide free healthcare to those who desperately need it is highly respected by the communities. Satik Azatyan from Karakert said, “I am glad my family has been given the opportunity to see several specialists. I am happy they are able to access this kind of healthcare now.” Satik visited the vascular surgeon and her grandson was able to receive dental treatment.

Vascular surgeon Greg Simonian says her daughter has been a motivator for him to enroll in the mission. “Two years ago, she visited Armenia with her classmates from Hovnanian School and she just fell in love with this country… She inspired us, and now I am here with my family, trying to help people living in rural areas.”

COAF is working not only to provide free of charge medical care, but through providing educational opportunities for children, they are helping spark the next generation of Armenian doctors. Their SMART initiative is changing the rural landscape by providing educational hubs and access to healthcare for students and their families in remote areas. COAF is giving the next generation a window to the world that will revolutionize access to healthcare, and eliminate the glass ceiling over village communities.

]]>VAN (Armradio) — The Turkish Parliament member of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Garo Paylan visited Van to verify the information that toilets are built in a historic Armenian cemetery, Artsakhpress reports.

According to Agos, the territory was surrounded by barbed wire. Paylan talked to the local residents.

“Wherever I touched, human bones were found. There is no doubt anymore that this territory used to be an Armenian cemetery”, he said.

Paylan told Agos that the territory had been a dwelling place from the times of Urartu. “Armenian people lived there since then. Everyone whom I talked to told about churches and schools. But alas, these memories are erased.”

Paylan emphasized that according to the local residents, the gravestones of the cemetery had been eliminated in 1940-50s. “A Muslim chapel, a toilet and a café are built at the place of the cemetery. It is sad that we failed to protect the remains of our ancestors”.

According to Agos, Arshile Gorky was born in Dilkaya in Edremit region of Van. The spring that was built near his house and destroyed after some time was restored in 2015 and a sign was established by the Municipality of Edremit. Now the sign is removed and the spring water is cut off, Paylan says. According to him, all the documents of Armenian life are eliminated.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=284722017-08-14T19:30:05Z2017-08-14T19:30:05ZYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Russia sent a large water-dropping aircraft to Armenia to help authorities there contain a massive wildfire in a forest…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Russia sent a large water-dropping aircraft to Armenia to help authorities there contain a massive wildfire in a forest southeast of Yerevan that raged for the third consecutive day on Monday.

The fire in the historic Khosrov Forest Reserve broke out on Saturday. Helped by an unusually hot and dry weather, it quickly spread to more than 200 hectares of land, threatening to engulf the entire state-protected area encompassing 9,000 hectares of forest founded by a 4th century Armenian king.

The Ministry for Emergency Situations scrambled to contain the blaze, sending dozens firefighters to the area. They were joined on Monday by over 200 Armenian army soldiers and police officers as well as hundreds of residents of nearby villages and volunteers from other parts of the country.

They continued to battle the fire as it burned down more trees on Monday afternoon, sending a thick smoke billowing skyward. Ministry officials complained that the Khosrov reserve’s mountainous terrain is making is practically impossible for them to deploy fire engines.

An Armenian military helicopter was therefore called in to join the operation. Water dropped by it on burning trees provided insufficient, however.

Emergency Situations Minister Davit Tonoyan called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Puchkov to ask him for urgent assistance. Tonoyan’s press office announced later in the day that the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations will dispatch a special plane designed for dealing with forest fires.

A statement by the office said the Ilyushin-72 plane can drop more than 42 tons of water and protect almost 5 hectares of land against flames during a single flight. Preparations are now underway to ensuring necessary water supply to the plane, added the statement.

The water-dropping plane arrived at the Erebuni airbase in Yerevan at 7 around p.m. local time.

“We hope that the plane will arrive and we’ll extinguish the fire with its help,” a senior official at the Armenian Rescue Service told reporters.

“This is a disaster, this is not an ordinary fire,” he said. “I’ve worked in this area for many years and haven’t seen a fire like this before.”

Although Armenia has been affected by an intense heatwave for the last few weeks, law-enforcement authorities suspect that the Khosrov forest fire was the result of human negligence. The Investigative Committee launched a criminal inquiry under corresponding articles of the Armenian Criminal Code.

Another massive wildfire broke out near a village in the southeastern Vayots Dzor province last Thursday. It reportedly affected about 650 hectares of land partly covered with trees. Tonoyan’s ministry announced on Monday that the fire has finally been contained with the help of army soldiers and policemen.

]]>JERUSALEM — The Israeli Defense Ministry is checking reports that Aeronautics Defense Systems firm had been asked by Azerbaijan to carry out a live demonstration of an armed unmanned aerial vehicle against an Armenian military position.

The Israeli daily Maariv reported on Sunday that a team belonging to the Israeli defense company travelled to Azerbaijan over a month ago to finalize a contract for the sale of its Orbiter 1K unmanned aircraft – UAV capable of carrying special explosive payload.

Citing a formal complaint lodged with the ministry, the paper reported that two Israeli drone operators rebuffed Azerbaijani officials’ demand to demonstrate the use of the deadly drone by hitting the Armenian position in an undisclosed area with it. But other, more senior representatives of the company agreed to launch the deadly craft towards the target, the paper said.

One of the operators subsequently resigned from the company in protest, while the other plans to follow suit soon, according to “Maariv.”

The Defense Ministry said that while “as a rule, the Defense Ministry does not make it a practice to comment on issues involving military exports the claim is being examined by the relevant parties at the ministry.”

Aeronautics Defense Systems for their part strongly denied that the event ever occurred telling The Jerusalem Post that “Aeronautics never performs demonstrations using live fire and that was true in this case as well” and that the operation of the craft is carried out by the purchaser and whatever occurs is the purchaser’s responsibility.

According to Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army, the Azerbaijani military most recently attacked its frontline positions with a suicide drone on July 7. Colonel Armen Gyozalian, the commander of an army unit stationed in northeastern Karabakh, told the “Hay Zinvor” newspaper earlier this month that two of his soldiers were lightly wounded in the incident. No Armenian military hardware was damaged in that drone attack, he said.

The Azerbaijani army heavily used similar suicide drones manufactured by another Israeli company, Israel Aerospace Industries, during the April 2016 hostilities in Karabakh, which left at least 190 soldiers from both sides dead. Baku had gotten hold of them as part of multimillion-dollar defense contracts signed with the Jewish state. It was reported that Azerbaijan had used a Harop drone made by Israel Aerospace Industries killing seven Armenian soldiers when it hit a bus they were traveling in.

Armenian Ambassador Armen Melkonian later delivered a formal protest to Israel over the weapons and Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On demanded that then-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon stop the delivery of Israeli drones to Baku until Jerusalem receives a clear commitment that Israeli weapons will not be used against Armenia.

“Armenia and Azerbaijan are both friendly to Israel and it is inconceivable that Israeli weapons be used in a war between the two countries over the Nagorno-Karabakh region,” she wrote shortly after the incident with the Harop UAV stressing that “it is Israel’s obligation to ensure that weapons it manufactures do not contribute to igniting the land which is burning anyway, and not to take part in attacks by either side.”

According to a report in the Vestnik Kavkaza news site, Azer Mammadov, senior adviser to Azerbaijan’s Defense Industry Minister Yavar Jamalov, said that the use of UAVs by both sides has led Baku to increase its “acquisitions and joint developments from and with Israel.”

The report also quoted Mammadov as saying local manufacturer AZAD is producing the Zarba-1K based on Aeronautics’s Orbiter-K which “due to its very low acoustic signature […] is not detectable until two seconds before diving into the attack.”

Mammadov stated that the testing of the Zarba-1K is expected to be completed within “a few months after which we plan to field 100 of them.”

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=284612017-08-14T15:22:00Z2017-08-14T15:12:19ZBRATISLAVA — In a tight Group A, the only four-team group, proceedings became even more crowded as Armenia and Sweden both picked…

]]>BRATISLAVA — In a tight Group A, the only four-team group, proceedings became even more crowded as Armenia and Sweden both picked up big wins on the road.

The Pre-Qualifiers’ surprise package Armenia picked up their third win, defeating Slovak Republic 92-78. Ryan Boatright, who had 22 points on Saturday, and his teammates, can guarantee a spot in the Qualifiers with a win in one of their two remaining games.

Sweden completed a double over Bosnia and Herzegovina with an 88-72 win, improving to 2-2, with their remaining two games taking place at home.

After four rounds, Armenia’s basketball team solely leads Group A, with the team scheduled to face Sweden in the next game on August 16.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=284412017-08-14T15:13:35Z2017-08-14T15:04:26ZGLENDALE — The Community is invited to a very informative lecture series “Ararat Phoenix Rising-Reawakening of the Armenian Identity” by Mher Koubelian.…

]]>GLENDALE — The Community is invited to a very informative lecture series “Ararat Phoenix Rising-Reawakening of the Armenian Identity” by Mher Koubelian. The lectures will be held in 4 different cities : Glendale, Lomita, Altadena and Winnetka throughout California from August 25-September 1, 2017.

Throughout millenia, Armenia has been born and reborn, struck down only to rise again from ashes. This historic survival could be explained by divine providence and a unique national identity. This presentation seeks to awaken hearts and empower them to take their rightful place, by first exploring Armenia’s God given calling through many key elements from mythology, history, linguistics, genetics, culture and etc.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1984, Mher Koubelian, a young pharmacist who has spent most of his life in Montreal, Canada, is an individual who holds dear his Armenian and Christian heritage, ceaselessly explores the unique identity and calling of the Armenian nation- a topic that he has presented in his community churches, youth groups and elsewhere. He is the founder of “Ararat Awakening Association” in 2013, through which he has participated in interesting dialogues and conferences with Turks and Kurds in Toronto, New Jersey, Armenia and Turkey.

“Ararat Phoenix Rising- Reawakening of the Armenian Identity” will be presented in:
1- Glendale on Friday, August 25th at 7:30 pm at Armenian Society of Los Angeles, 117 S. Louise St.
2- Lomiota-Torrance on Sunday, august 27th at 6:30 pm at South Bay Armenian Community Center, 2222 Lomita Blvd.
3- Altadena on Thursday, August 31’st at 7:30 pm at Tekeyan Cultural Center, 1901 Allen Ave.
4- Winnetka on Friday, September 1’st at 7:30 pm at Organization of Istanbul Armenian Center, 19726 Sherman Way.

]]>0MassisPosthttp://massispost.com/?p=284382017-08-14T15:02:19Z2017-08-14T15:02:19ZSTEPANAKERT — Kamo Davtyan, a soldier wounded in the Artsakh Liberation War in the early nineties, celebrated housewarming in the Village of…

]]>STEPANAKERT — Kamo Davtyan, a soldier wounded in the Artsakh Liberation War in the early nineties, celebrated housewarming in the Village of Nor Shen, Martuni region, Artsakh. The house was rebuilt by the Tufenkian Foundation, in the framework of the Housing for Wounded Soldiers initiative. Tufenkian Foundation Executive Director Mr. Raffi Doudaklian, representatives of the Martuni Regional Administration, ARF Meroujan Mosiyan Committee and local media, as well as members of the Nor Shen community attended the housewarming.

Since 2003, the Tufenkian Foundation has implemented a number of projects and initiatives in support of Artsakh. In April 2016, in response to the Four Day War, the Foundation launched an urgent appeal to help the people affected by the war. Since then, with funds raised during this emergency appeal and through additional support from individual donors, the Foundation provided housing support to six soldiers: three in Martakert, two in Hadrut and one in Askeran.

While the initiative was launched with the aim of supporting soldiers injured in the Four Day War, it was later expanded to include soldiers with housing needs who have been injured in battle and are not able to repair their homes or purchase new ones. “Every soldier who has risked his life for our homeland deserves a dignified living, and that is not possible without a decent home. By building, renovating or purchasing houses for the soldiers of Artsakh, we not only honor and support these brave individuals and their families, but we also help rebuild Artsakh, one house at a time”, TF Executive Director Raffi Doudaklian stated during the housewarming ceremony.

Kamo Davtyan is the seventh soldier to receive a fully renovated house from the Tufenkian Foundation and the second soldier of the 90’s liberation war to benefit from the initiative. During the war, Kamo joined the Nor Shen self-defense group, where he fought bravely and was heavily injured in one of the battles.

Kamo is 50 years old. A hardworking man by nature, he is now unable to do physical work because of the injury sustained in battle. He lives in Nor Shen together with his wife and two daughters. Following his father’s footsteps, Kamo’s son has joined the Artsakh Army and serves his country as an officer.

Prior to the renovations, Kamo and his family lived in an old village house, which was not only in overall poor condition, but also had no kitchen or an indoor bathroom. In addition to general repairs, the Foundation has constructed an adjacent building, thus expanding the house and adding a fully renovated kitchen, bathroom, as well as a corridor.

In his remarks during the housewarming ceremony, Kamo Davtyan said, “I am happy to finally have a home we will be proud to live in. My only wish is that all my friends who have fought in the war have a place they can call home and a decent roof over their heads”.
Although the 2016 emergency has ended, the housing need for Artsakh’s soldiers is still a pending issue. With many wounded/disabled soldiers requiring similar assistance, the Foundation will continue this work in the foreseeable future.

About the Tufenkian Foundation
The Tufenkian Foundation was launched in 1999 by entrepreneur James Tufenkian with the mission to empower the initiatives of local citizens, support the most vulnerable strata of the society, promote environmental protection and awareness, and advance social justice in Armenia. Since 2003, the Foundation has broadened its scope to embattled Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh), where it promotes resettlement and development projects in the vulnerable border zones of the region.
www.tufenkianfoundation.org

]]>BEIRUT — Young professionals boarded flights from as far as Australia, Brazil, Thailand and beyond to participate in AGBU FOCUS 2017 in Beirut from August 2 to 6. Following the tradition established sixteen years ago, over 400 guests came together to expand their networks through meaningful exchange while discovering the cosmopolitan Lebanese capital and attending an unparalleled set of cultural and social events.

This year, in addition to the popular series of events expected at AGBU FOCUS, guests were invited to join a special excursion on Wednesday and tour in the unique sites of Beirut, the Jeitta Grottoes, Byblos city, the Jbeil souks and the Armenian Genocide Orphans’ Aram Bezikian Museum at the Bird’s Nest Orphanage. The visit to the museum proved particularly memorable as many attendees found themselves in the spot where their ancestors took refuge and learned skills to integrate into some of the communities represented by the FOCUS guests. “We were eager to welcome guests to our city, which carries a lot of emotion and history as well as a sense of belonging for Armenians. Lebanese traditions, culture and hospitality added a special touch to our weekend. From the very start, we presented a truly inclusive Lebanese-Armenian experience ranging from the local food to music and settings,” said AGBU FOCUS 2017 chair Natacha Keuchguerian.

Moderator Sarine Karajerjian and panelists Sarah Hermez, Stephane Petrossian, Anne Vartapetiance and Sevag Babikian share their professional experiences at Perspectives on August 3

AGBU FOCUS officially kicked off with its signature event Perspectives, a panel discussion, held at Bachoura in the Beirut Digital District. The evening offered insights by fellow professionals who had broken the mold in their careers by taking risks in their fields and often stepping outside of their comfort zones. Sarine Karajerjian, the former chair of the AGBU Young Professionals (YPs) of Lebanon, moderated the discussion that included engineer Sevag Babikian, fashion designer Sarah Hermez, attorney-turned-entrepreneur Stephane Petrossian and tech researcher and startup founder Anna Vartapetiance. Although panelists’ careers and paths varied, an underlying theme of social responsibility emerged in each person’s journey. “Someone once told me that beauty and justice can be found in everyone and that statement resonated with me and pushed me to start Creative Space Beirut which aims at making design education accessible to all students with vision and an impulse to create, regardless of their socio-economic standing,” said Sarah Hermez, co-founder of the design school.

The dialogue continued the following day at the inaugural FOCUS Conference where emerging leaders and engaged young professionals learned how grassroots ideas have launched evolving into signature programs within the AGBU’s landscape of activities. Framed appropriately as a network of ideas, AGBU has served as an incubator for new initiatives for decades. The participants were also offered a look at two up-and-coming projects aimed at engaging communities on an international scale. Brainstorming sessions and workshops created a stimulating environment for attendees to provide feedback and hold collaborative discussions for new program concepts. “It was a distinct honor to host the first FOCUS Conference and collaborate with AGBU leadership. The drive of like-minded peers was evident throughout the day as participants shared their thoughts and encouraged each other to take action to ensure that their communities remain engaged in giving back,” noted AGBU FOCUS 2017 co-chair Nathalie Piranian. The day concluded with an opportunity for industry-based networking before the ever-popular FOCUS Club Night at B018, a former bunker turned into an open-air nightclub designed by world-renowned architect Bernard Khoury.

Participants engaged in important dialogue at the inaugural FOCUS Conference held at the AGBU Demirdjian Center

On Saturday, after the first-hand exposure to Khoury’s architecture, guests at FOCUS on Art held at the impressive Sursock Museum were treated to his special presentation. Reflecting on the resilience of the city and his design process and ideology, Khoury noted that his mother’s Armenian roots remain ever present in his mind. Khoury, who has left his indelible mark on the Beirut landscape and designed the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies in Yerevan, has a few ongoing projects in the homeland. “What a treat to discover the spirit of the structures and spaces of Beirut, their virtues and vices through the architectural storytelling of Bernard Khoury,” noted Stepan Khzrtian who traveled from Arcadia, California, for the weekend.

The highlight of the weekend was the AGBU FOCUS Gala held at The Legend, nestled on the bank of the ancient Lycus River. The impressive entertainment ranged from a performance by the AGBU Arine Dance Ensemble and a fire drumming show to fireworks and endless dancing. The night began with a dedication to the AGBU Scholarship Program, the designated beneficiary of the FOCUS fundraising drive. Since 1923, the AGBU Scholarship Program has provided financial assistance to tens of thousands of students pursuing higher education at some of the world’s top-ranked universities. AGBU FOCUS 2017 organizers Natacha Keuchguerian and Nathalie Piranian addressed guests drawing their attention to the lasting impact of the AGBU Scholarship Program. The fundraising campaign leading up to the FOCUS weekend raised nearly $100,000 attesting that the spirit of giving is alive and well in the current generation of YPs.

As a beneficiary of an AGBU scholarship, fashion designer Eddy Anemian of Saint Chamond, France, shared his experience and expressed his gratitude to AGBU and its donors. Anemian, who received the coveted H&M Design Award 2014 at age 24 and whose own collection for the company sold out within the first hours on the market, conveyed his incredible journey from his small-town upbringing to the storefronts of the Champs Elysées. “My AGBU scholarship was extremely helpful because it allowed me to fully engage in the creative process without facing the struggle of a financial burden. The creative process is often very tiring and overwhelming at times but AGBU’s support provided me with the encouragement I needed to propel forward and pursue my dream,” said Anemian.

Addressing the crowd in three languages, AGBU Lebanon District Committee member Gary Nazarian thanked AGBU Lebanon, the Central office in New York and the Organizing Committee for their tireless efforts behind the scenes. In a touching tribute, he announced the establishment of the AGBU Noubar Nazarian YP Innovators Fund, which will designate $10,000 per year to finance start-up projects initiated through the AGBU YP network. “Noubar Nazarian committed his time to ensure that AGBU youth activities thrived during his lifetime and this fund builds on the foundation he and his generation of leaders set decades ago,” he noted.

The weekend ended with a farewell brunch at the Beirut Waterfront. In the weeks following FOCUS, professional and personal connections will continue to be made and new ideas will be explored, a testament to the impact that FOCUS has on connecting Armenians around the world.

Since premiering in New York City in 2001, AGBU FOCUS has distinguished itself as a unique networking experience for Armenian young professionals globally. What began as a signature anniversary celebration is now a sensational biennial tradition, offering young professionals an opportunity to connect with hundreds of international peers while highlighting the direct and positive impact of AGBU’s programs on generations of Armenians. Over the past 14 years, AGBU FOCUS has united close to 3,000 young professionals in seven different cities: New York City (2001, 2007), Montreal (2003), Miami (2005), Chicago (2009), Paris (2011), San Francisco (2013), Toronto (2015) and now Beirut (2017).

]]>GLENDALE – A formal meeting between the Armenian American Medical Society (AAMS) Executive Board, led by Raffi Tachdjian, MD, MPH and Prof. Armen Muradyan Rector of Mkhitar Heratsi Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) and Former Health Minister of The Republic of Armenia, was held at the Armenian Consulate in Glendale, CA. The meeting was facilitated by Dr. Shant Shekherdimian Pediatric surgeon at UCLA Health.

This visionary and impactful meeting took place at the Armenian consulate in the presence of the Deputy General Consul of Armenia Valery Mkrtumyan. The primary objective of this meeting was to open a dialogue to discuss collaboration between AAMS and YSMU. The plan for this collaboration and AAMS’s goal is to foster a new era of communication and sharing of ideas, to increase the school’s impact both scientifically and altruistically in order to become a model system to be exemplified by other countries and healthcare systems.

The parties reached concrete goals to set an outline that looks to assist, not just the students both here in the diaspora and in Yerevan, but to correspondingly lay the foundation to strengthen the impact the school will have, this collaboration will have, and to make YSMU one of the leading schools in the world.

The AAMS plans on fostering this long distance relationship by growing and cultivating students, professors, faculty and a complete system for health. The vision is to create a self-sustaining system of healthcare to not only serve the people but to be a role-model for other countries and systems worldwide. This commitment serves to strengthen YSMU’s world ranking, and to not only help students succeed but to also create exchange programs in order for the science, knowledge and information to flow not only from teacher to student but through multiple channels worldwide, consistently.

“We had a very productive meeting with Professor Armen Muradyan. By having these colleagues in Yerevan we will be able to work closely and forge a path forward with a solid outline and solid roles to be partitioned off and to eventually come together with a bigger picture than we envision now that will lead to a superb entity and union with the two parties involved. Through this cooperative effort we hope that today’s meeting will define our roles within our respective medical organizations and put together this quilt of information in order to create self-sustaining system of healthcare. Tonight’s meeting was an excellent start to make this vision and to make positive and impactful changes” said Dr. Raffi Tachdjian.

]]>0MassisPosthttps://massispost.com/?p=284292017-08-10T19:50:43Z2017-08-10T19:50:43ZYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — An investment fund set up recently by wealthy Russian entrepreneurs of Armenian descent plans to build a major hydroelectric…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — An investment fund set up recently by wealthy Russian entrepreneurs of Armenian descent plans to build a major hydroelectric plant in Armenia in what will be the first business project financed by it, it was announced on Thursday.

The Armenian government gave the green light to the project, saying that it will boost the country’s energy security. The decision took the form of formal approval of a framework agreement with the fund called the Investors Club of Armenia (ICA).

“This is the first major project of the Investors Club of Armenia which has been discussed in detail ever since the creation of the fund,” Energy Minister Ashot Manukian said at a weekly cabinet meeting.

The fund was officially presented in March at a ceremony in Yerevan attended by Prime Minister Karen Karapetian. The latter has close rapports with its key founders, notably the Armenian-born billionaire Samvel Karapetian (no relation).

Minister for Economic Development Suren Karayan said in April that the fund’s investments in the Armenian economy should total around $300 million this year. One of Karayan’s deputies told reporters last month that the first ICA-funded projects relating to renewable energy will be launched this fall.

The new hydroelectric plant is due to be built on the Debed river flowing through Armenia’s northern Lori province. It will be located near Shnogh, a village 20 kilometers south of the country’s border with Georgia.

Manukian told fellow cabinet members that the “modern and sophisticated” facility will absorb at least $150 million in investments and have a capacity of 76 megawatts. Power generated by it will account for 5 percent of Armenian electricity production, the energy minister said.

The ICA says on its website that the Shnogh plant’s construction will take three years. The framework agreement with the Russian-Armenian investors commits the government to guaranteeing that Armenia’s national electric utility will buy 500 million kilowatt/hours of electricity annually form the future plant.

Incidentally, the utility belongs to Samvel Karapetian’s Tashir Group. The Russian-Armenian tycoon also owns Armenia’s largest thermal power plant and shopping malls in Yerevan. The “Forbes” magazine estimates his personal fortune at $3.5billion, suggesting that he is the richest ethnic Armenian in the world.

The ICA website also reveals that the fund would like to at least partly finance the planned construction of a 100-megawatt hydroelectric plant on the Arax river marking Armenia’s border with Iran. The Armenian and Iranian governments have long been trying to implement the project.

Manukian on Thursday stressed hydropower’s importance for Armenia’s energy security. He said the Shnogh plant and smaller hydroelectric facilities currently under construction will raise renewable energy’s share in Armenian electricity output to around 50 percent.

Hydroelectric plants produced nearly one-third of Armenia’s electricity last year. The proportion stood at only 20 percent a decade ago. It has risen rapidly thanks to more than 150 small and privately owned hydroelectric plants built along fast-flowing mountainous rivers.

Hydropower is much cheaper than electricity supplied by thermal-power plants mainly using Russian natural gas.

]]>0MassisPosthttps://massispost.com/?p=284242017-08-10T15:46:48Z2017-08-10T15:46:48ZSARAJEVO — Bosnia and Herzegovina outgunned the visitors from Armenia 98-85 in an offensive-minded affair in Sarajevo to move atop the standings…

]]>SARAJEVO — Bosnia and Herzegovina outgunned the visitors from Armenia 98-85 in an offensive-minded affair in Sarajevo to move atop the standings with a 2-1 record.

The Dusko Vujosevic-coached side took control of the game in the second period and never took their foot off the gas pedal, with 18-year-old starlet Dzanan Musa, still playing with a face mask, providing the seemingly never-ending fuel with a team-high 28 points.

]]>0MassisPosthttps://massispost.com/?p=284202017-08-10T15:13:25Z2017-08-10T15:13:25ZSYDNEY (The Weekly Times) — In November 1998 news broke on local radio station 2RRR that a huge earthquake had devastated Armenia.…

]]>SYDNEY (The Weekly Times) — In November 1998 news broke on local radio station 2RRR that a huge earthquake had devastated Armenia. Broadcasters Toros Boyadjian and Vatche Topouzian remember the event. It was a hall hour news report and the first Armenian language news broadcast by 2RRR,” they said.

This was before the internet and it was how many people in the local Armenian community first heard the news and the fate of -their families and friends.

“We’ve made many news broadcasts since but this was a broadcast we’ll never forget.”

Almost thirty years later the pair are celebrating their 1,500th broadcast, This is a significant milestone and community achievement by celebrating the 1500th consecutive radio show of the ethnic language program broadcast in the Armenian language as “Voice of Nor Serount”, which means Voice of the New Generation.

“Under the auspices and support of the local Armenian Nor Serount Cultural Society, the Armenian radio program on RRR: is the longest running program on the station,”

Toros and Vatche broadcast the ‘Voice of Nor Serount” from the station’s Henley Cottage headquarters on Victoria Road every Sunday between 7pm and 9pm.

“Our weekly two hour program provides a comprehensive summary of the week’s news, sports and finance updates: a health and well-being segment, community information; live interviews with local and international artists and guests as well as the best Armenian music library consisting of modern hits and golden oldies.”

The program has interviewed several Australian political leaders who include Tony Abbott, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, Bob Carr, Gladys Berejiklian and long serving Prime Minister John Howard who lost the Seat of Bennelong to Labor’s Maxine McKew.

We have seen a lot of people come and go over the past 2 years but the “Voice of Nor Serount” Armenian radio program has remained”.

The dynamic duo estimate they have 5,000 local listeners in an Armenian community of around 10.000 local Armenian speakers.

“We enjoy doing our program, which is now a lot more fun with prizes and giveaways,” they said.

]]>0MassisPosthttps://massispost.com/?p=284162017-08-09T22:12:16Z2017-08-09T22:12:16ZYEREVAN — China officially launched the construction of a new and much bigger building for its embassy in Armenia on Wednesday in…

]]>YEREVAN — China officially launched the construction of a new and much bigger building for its embassy in Armenia on Wednesday in what a senior Chinese diplomat described as another sign of deepening relations between the two nations.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, Yerevan’s Mayor Taron Markarian and China’s visiting Assistant Foreign Minister Li Huilai broke ground on the site of the 40,000-square-meter embassy compound that should be completed by the end of 2019. Officials said that it will be the second largest Chinese diplomatic mission in the former Soviet Union.

“This is a great and joyful event,” the Chinese ambassador in Yerevan, Tian Erlong, told reporters at the ground-breaking ceremony. “The Chinese Embassy in Armenia will have a new building in Armenia.”

“China will be better represented in this country. This is logical because the scale and nature of our cooperation are rapidly developing, and this obviously requires more efforts, more human resources and, therefore, a larger building,” he said.

Meeting with Nalbandian earlier in the day, Li reportedly said Beijing would like to “further deepen the dynamically deepening partnership with Armenia.” “The unprecedentedly high-level relationship and friendship between China and Armenia are based on sincerity and mutual respect,” the Armenian Foreign Ministry quoted him as saying.

According to a ministry statement, Nalbandian told Li that close relations with China are one of Yerevan’s foreign policy priorities.

The statement added that the two men discussed efforts to boost bilateral commerce and the situation in the region. Nalbandian was reported to praise China’s “balanced position” on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian agreed to deepen ties between their nations when then they met in Beijing in 2015. In a joint statement, they noted “mutual understanding on issues relating to pivotal interests and concerns of the two countries.”

According to Armenian government data, Chinese-Armenian trade rose by 35 percent to $243 million in the first half of this year, making China Armenia’s third largest trading partner after Russia and the European Union.

China also seems interested in stepping up military cooperation with Armenia. A top Chinese military official, Rear Admiral Guan Youfei, visited Yerevan in April, holding talks with Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian and the chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff, General Movses Hakobian. The Armenian Defense Ministry said they reached “agreements on expanding cooperation and implementing a number of mutually beneficial projects in the area of defense.”

]]>ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused Germany on Monday of assisting terrorists by not responding to thousands of files sent to Berlin or handing over suspects wanted by Turkish authorities.

“Germany is abetting terrorists,” Erdogan told a conference in the Black Sea province of Rize, in comments likely to further escalate tensions between the two countries.

“We gave (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel 4,500 dossiers, but have not received an answer on a single one of them,” he told members of his ruling AK Party.

“When there is a terrorist, they can tell us to give that person back. You won’t send the ones you have to us, but can ask us for yours. So you have a judiciary, but we don’t in Turkey?” he said.

In Berlin, a German government source rejected Erdogan’s latest remarks.

“Everything has really been said about this,” said the source. “Repeating the same accusations over and over again does not make them any more true.”

Already tense relations deteriorated further last month after Turkey arrested 10 rights activists, including a German, as part of a wider security crackdown.

A Turkish prosecutor has accused them of links to the network of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for a failed coup in July 2016. The U.S.-based Gulen denies any involvement.

Turkey accuses Germany of sheltering Kurdish and far-leftist militants as well as military officers and other people linked to the abortive coup. Berlin denies the accusations.

Tensions between Berlin and Ankara were already running high after the arrest of a Turkish-German journalist and Turkey’s refusal to allow German lawmakers to visit troops at a Turkish air base.

The SDF-linked Syriac Military Council (MFS) said on Tuesday that the rescued civilians were from Syriac and Armenian origins, adding that they are originally from Raqqa city in northeastern Syria.

“Our forces have saved two Armenian families today,” said Mustafa Bali, Director of the Information Office of the SDF.

Saws Karabidian, a Christian woman who was among those rescued by the SDF, said: “They [ISIS] forced us to wear the headscarf and allowed us to reveal our faces to distinguish us from Muslims. We had to hide our faces to avoid insults.”

“We were forced to pay tribute by hand and we were humiliated and insulted, what a homeland that makes you pay an additional tax because you are different,” Karadij Karadjian, another Christian civilian who was rescued on Tuesday, told SDF fighters. “Today is a new birth for us.”

A small number of Christians lives in Raqqa city, however the majority of them fled when ISIS took over the city and moved to the Kurdish-held Hasakah province.

Over 200 fighters of the Syriac Military Council (MFS) now fight alongside other SDF factions in Western Raqqa to liberate the city from ISIS.

A distinguished painter and draftsman, Antreasian is also a pioneering lithographer, highly respected and renowned in the printmaking world. His contributions to American art have been well-documented and place him alongside the great innovators of mid-20th-century American art.

Antreasian joined June Wayne and Clinton Adams as the founding Technical Director at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles in the early 1960s, and later at the Tamarind Institute at University of New Mexico.

Antreasian’s prolific career began under the tutelage of Will Barnet and Stanley William Hayter. Stylistically, Antreasian’s work has evolved from regionalist American scenes to abstract expressionism, subsequently to more iconic, hard-edged abstraction, and, finally, to his monumental geometric paintings. Antreasian has continuously pushed boundaries. He invented the “rainbow roll” — the continuous-toned ink process — and was a pioneer of printing on metallic foil and Mylar as well as embossing and de-bossing.

Emir’s Favorite 2012 Acrylic on Wood 35 3/8 x 74 inches

Antreasian’s paintings, drawings, and lithography prints are included in over 60 museum collections including LACMA, Norton Simon, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art.

In his essay titled “Garo Antreasian: The Printer as Painter,” art critic Peter Frank wrote, “Garo Antreasian is one of America’s senior artists. This appellation applies not only because the 95-year-old, New Mexico-based Antreasian is still hale and active, but because he has been a notable presence in our country’s artistic discourse. Considered one of the pioneers of contemporary printmaking worldwide, Antreasian not only helped spearhead the revival of lithography in 1960s America but did so by introducing innovative elaborations and updates to the 19th-century technique. Further, his decades of pedagogy have bred several generations of adventurous and independent-minded artists. And, of course, Antreasian’s own artistic output has made a rich contribution.

Triangulum X: Hommage to F.L. 1983 Color Lithograph 26 x 41 inches

“That contribution, dating back to the 1940s, has always derived from a wide variety of sources, visual and cultural. At heart it is as intimate, as dependent on personal experience and sensation as is that of any truly passionate artist. But its stylistic and iconographic associations range broadly, from the “American scene” painting predominant before World War II to the pan-Asian formal influences Antreasian absorbed during extensive travels made just before and during his retirement from teaching. Even at its most non-objective and esoteric, Antreasian’s is an art of observation and response, a meeting of outside impression and inside impulse. His artwork is at once image, notation, and experiment, a constant examination of what happens when an oblique approach is taken to a particular subject, when a special tweak is applied to a borrowed structure.”

William Peterson, an Albuquerque-based art critic, wrote, “Garo Z. Antreasian belongs to a maverick generation in American art. He was born in 1922, the same year as Richard Diebenkorn, Grace Hartigan, Beverly Pepper, Leon Golub, Leonard Baskin, and Jules Olitski, and just a year ahead of Ellsworth Kelly, Sam Francis, Roy Lichtenstein, and Larry Rivers. This is a generation of singular artists who occupy a difficult position in the history of 20th-century art.” Peterson has gone on to state, “Although Antreasian has always been a painter of extraordinary versatility, as well as an incisive draftsman of bite and power, he is best known for his contribution to printmaking. In the 1960s and 70s, he did as much as anyone to regenerate and revolutionize the art of lithography in this country, expanding its technical range, training a new generation of master printers, and building an impressive body of brilliant and masterful prints that stand as a benchmark of achievement in the medium.”

Tufenkian Fine Arts is pleased to launch its new location in late summer 2017 with the exhibition A Retrospective: Garo Antreasian.

Tufenkian Fine Arts, a gallery located in Glendale, California, is dedicated to the advancement of modern and contemporary artists. We present and connect audiences to events and exhibitions fostering excellence in contemporary fine art. Currently our gallery is under renovation, with an expected opening in early August 2017. Tufenkian Fine Arts offers art enthusiasts a large variety of exhibitions, ranging from lithographic artworks to mixed media.

]]>0MassisPosthttps://massispost.com/?p=284012017-08-09T18:56:42Z2017-08-09T18:56:42ZYEREVAN (RFE/EL) — Armenia’s diamond-processing industry, once a key sector of the national economy, has continued to grow rapidly this year after…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/EL) — Armenia’s diamond-processing industry, once a key sector of the national economy, has continued to grow rapidly this year after a decade of decline that began in the early 2000s, official statistics show.

According to the National Statistical Service (NSS), Armenian firms manufactured 90,776 carats of gem diamonds in the first half of 2017, up by 53.5 percent from the same period in 2016.

Refined diamonds were Armenia’s most important export item throughout the 1990s, providing jobs for thousands of people. The sector had a rough time in the following years due to a host of mainly external factors, including a loss of reliable suppliers of rough diamonds.

The onset in late 2008 of a global financial crisis only aggravated the slump, with Armenian diamond output plummeting by half in 2009 to less than 50,000 carats. The volatile sector’s ensuing slow recovery accelerated in 2013.

The industry contracted sharply in 2014 but returned to double-digit growth the following year. Its combined output surged by 54 percent in 2016, to 125,431 carats. The figure was still well below the 2003 level of almost 290,000 carats recorded by the NSS. The country’s diamond-cutting companies employed more than 2,000 people at the time.

The largest of those companies belong to Western investors that supply them with mostly African rough diamonds. The Armenian government has long been trying to facilitate imports of more uncut diamonds from Russia, which has one of the world’s largest deposits of the precious stone.

The Armenian Ministry for Economic Development reported on Tuesday that one of its senior officials, Gagik Mkrtchian, and Armenia’s ambassador to Russia, Vartan Toghanian, met with a Russian deputy finance minister in Moscow this week to discuss ways of boosting Russian diamond supplies. “An agreement was reached on taking practical steps as early as possible,” it said in a statement.

The statement cited Mkrtchian as saying that the agreement’s implementation will contribute to continued growth in the Armenian diamond-processing sector. It did not elaborate.

Paylan stated that in recent times, Turkish authorities are making the curtailing of freedom of speech enter also the country’s parliament, as he recalled that sincere discussions on Armenian and Kurdish issues will from now on be banned in parliament, according to Cumhuriyet (Republic) daily of Turkey.

“Just as the average citizens are forbidden to talk freely, the same is going to be done to the Parliament members. Turkey is returning to the former state in the Armenian and Kurdish issue, when these issues were a taboo [in the country],” said the Armenian member of the Turkish parliament. “All this is done by the hands of the ruling Justice and Development Party [(AKP)].”

Pursuant to recent amendments to internal regulations of the parliament of Turkey, the MPs of the country will from now on be penalized for saying “Armenian Genocide” and “Kurdistan.”

]]>0MassisPosthttps://massispost.com/?p=283852017-08-08T20:52:13Z2017-08-08T20:52:13ZTEHRAN (RFE/RL) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has reaffirmed his commitment to closer ties with Armenia when he met with his visiting…

]]>TEHRAN (RFE/RL) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has reaffirmed his commitment to closer ties with Armenia when he met with his visiting Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian on Sunday the day after being sworn in for a second term.

Sarkisian was among foreign dignitaries, including the European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who attended the inauguration ceremony held in the Iranian parliament. He praised Armenia’s “special relationship” with Iran in a newspaper interview published ahead of his latest trip to Tehran.

Official Armenian and Iranian sources said the two presidents discussed Armenian-Iranian economic cooperation, the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and broader regional security.

According to official Iranian news agency IRNA, Rouhani spoke of “many commonalities” between the Islamic Republic and its Christian neighbor. He referred to bilateral economic ties, singling out the energy, transport and tourism sectors.

A statement by Sarkisian’s press office said the two leaders discussed joint multimillion-dollar projects planned or already implemented in these areas. Those include the ongoing construction of a new power transmission line which should significantly increase Armenian electricity exports to Iran. Supplies of Iranian natural gas to Armenia will also soar as a result.

The statement said Rouhani and Sarkisian also stressed the importance of trilateral cooperation on energy between their countries and Turkmenistan. Visiting Yerevan last December, Rouhani said Iran is ready to serve as a transit route for Armenia’s plans to import gas from Turkmenistan as well.

The two leaders further discussed continuing negotiations between Iran and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) on a free-trade deal strongly supported by Armenia. Rouhani told Sarkisian that he is looking forward to the signing of the deal “in the near future,” according to the Armenian presidential press service.

The unresolved Karabakh conflict was also on the agenda, with Rouhani saying that it can have a “solely political” solution. “Iran highly regards complete security around its borders, and we hope that … we could see a peaceful end to the issue,” the Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.

The Iranian leader was also reported to express concern over the possible spread of “terrorism” to the South Caucasus following the defeat of the so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Regional states must be “vigilant” in the face of this threat, he said.

]]>0MassisPosthttps://massispost.com/?p=283892017-08-08T20:50:02Z2017-08-08T20:50:02ZYEREVAN (Panorama.am) — The teams of the Yerevan State University (YSU), American University of Armenia (AUA), and the Russian-Armenian University (RAU) took…

]]>YEREVAN (Panorama.am) — The teams of the Yerevan State University (YSU), American University of Armenia (AUA), and the Russian-Armenian University (RAU) took part in the Annual International Mathematics Competition (IMC) in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria held from July 27 – August 6, 2017.

As the ministry of science and education reported in a release, overall 331 participants from 71 universities participated in the competition, where the Armenian teams won two gold, two silver, and two bronze medals.

According to the source, the Yerevan State University was represented by 4 participants, with two of them – Albert Gevorgyan and Vazgen Mikayelyan, claiming gold medals, while Avetik Karagukyan and Gevorg Mnatsakanyan won silver medals. The Olympiad was held both in the individual and team competition.

In the individual competition Albert Gevorgyan was placed the 15th, the YSU team took the seventh place in the team competition which is unprecedented result for the university.

Other Armenian students – Artyom Kosyan of the American University and Hrachya Kocharyan of the Slavonic University claimed bronze medals.

According to the release, the Israeli Nation team was declared the winner of the Math Olympiad, followed by teams of St. Petersburg State University and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

]]>YEREVAN (FIBA.com) – Ryan Boatright kept Armenia‘s ship steady in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Pre-Qualifiers, notching up their second win in Group A with an excellent performance against Sweden at the Mika Sport Complex in Yerevan on Saturday evening.

After getting their campaign off to a positive note against Slovak Republic, the Niksa Bavcevic-coached side improved to a 2-0 mark with an 82-69 victory, with Boatright scoring 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field to lead the strong-arm Armenian men.

Andrew Chrabaszcz collected 18 points and 8 rebounds, while Lucas Fischer chipped in with a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds. Marcus Eriksson had a team-high 15 points for the visitors from Sweden.

In the other Group A game of the day, Dzanan Musa put on a show in Sarajevo with 32 points in 26 minutes to help Bosnia and Herzegovina defeat Slovak Republic 84-71 to move to 1-1 in the standings after an opening-day loss to Sweden.

]]>0MassisPosthttps://massispost.com/?p=283762017-08-06T06:08:06Z2017-08-06T06:08:06ZYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — The Armenian government announced on Thursday plans to at least restrict smoking in public places and raise cigarette prices…

]]>YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — The Armenian government announced on Thursday plans to at least restrict smoking in public places and raise cigarette prices as part of a new strategy of curbing tobacco use in Armenia.

“Smoke less,” Prime Minister Karen Karapetian declared as his cabinet approved the program aimed at reducing the large number of smokers in the country by at least 1.5 percent annually for the next three years.

According to the Ministry of Health estimates, more than a quarter of adult Armenians smoke on a daily basis. The smoking rate is especially high among men: 55 percent.

Health Minister Levon Altunian told reporters that the anti-tobacco strategy outlines wide-ranging measures meant to cut these numbers. He said the authorities will “toughen” rules for smoking in offices, restaurants, cafes and bars, raise taxes levied from cigarettes, and ban all forms of tobacco advertising.

Altunian would not say whether this will lead to a blanket ban on smoking in public areas. He said the government will clarify that in a package of bills to that will be sent to the Armenian parliament this fall.

The Ministry of Health recommended such a ban when it announced the impending launch of the anti-tobacco drive in late May. The ministry also called for heavy fines for those businesses that would fail to enforce it.

“I haven’t changed my position,” Altunian said on Thursday.

The minister also insisted that Armenian companies manufacturing and importing cigarettes have not lobbied the government to water down the planned measures. “We haven’t asked for their opinion either,” he added.

Arsen Torosian, a doctor and anti-smoking campaigner, cautiously welcomed the government plans. “I hope that at least part of what has been declared will be implemented: cigarette prices will be raised, smoking will be completely banned in public places, and tobacco advertising will be banned in full,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). “This cannot fail to cut the number of smokers because these methods have been successfully used all over the world.”

“The key thing here is political will,” Torosian stressed, pointing to the failure of a five-year anti-tobacco program adopted by the authorities in 2010.

That program was supposed to reduce tobacco consumption blamed by medics for a high incidence of lung cancer in Armenia. Government data shows that the proportion of heavy smokers in the population actually rose form 23 percent in 2012 to 26 percent in 2016.

An Armenian law that came into force in 2005 banned smoking in hospitals, cultural and educational institutions and public buses. Additional restrictions introduced a year later required other entities, including bars and restaurants, to allow smoking only in special secluded areas. But with no legal sanctions put in place against their violation, those measures proved largely ineffectual.

]]>0MassisPosthttps://massispost.com/?p=283592017-08-06T06:06:47Z2017-08-06T06:06:47ZISTANBUL — An Istanbul court has ruled for the release of four suspects from the gendarmerie in the case into the killing…

]]>ISTANBUL — An Istanbul court has ruled for the release of four suspects from the gendarmerie in the case into the killing of Istanbul-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Two gendarmerie officers who posed for a photo with Dink hitman Ogün Samast while holding a Turkish flag were among those released.

Captain Murat Bayrak, Sergeant Birol Ustaoglu, Sergeant Yüksel Avan and retired Lieutenant Colonel Atilla Güçlüoglu, who were all on duty in the Black Sea province of Samsun at the time, were released by the Istanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court on Aug. 3.

The case into the killing of daily Agos Editor-in-Chief Dink has 85 suspects, of whom 25 are under arrest and 10 are fugitives.

The 44-second video of Samast holding a Turkish flag with police and gendarmerie officers in the Samsun police headquarters emerged shortly after he was detained in the wake of the murder. The footage caused widespread anger in Turkey.

In its justification for their release, the court cited several reasons, including the fact that “the suspects were not dismissed from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), Samast had contradictory statements about them, the footage in Bayrak’s phone showed Samast in police headquarters and that it was confirmed by other suspects.”